T here is no mistaking those distinctive striped equids known as zebras, which abound plentiful in Kenya — especially in the Masai Mara National Reserve, where I went on safari earlier this year.
Zebras tend to be social animals which congregate in herds; and within those herds form groups known as harems consisting of one stallion and up to six mares — along with their offspring, of course.
They also seem to be rather playful…
…but they are not known to be sociable to human beings, however.
Zebras can sleep standing up; and they are constantly grazing on a variety of different types of grasses. They are known to migrate up to as many as 1,800 miles for food.
Zebras are considered to be nomadic, as they tend not to stay in one place.
Without a defined territory, zebras are potentially vulnerable to a number of predators, which include lions and hyenas — and even crocodiles when zebras cross through rivers. Zebras protect themselves from predators by huddling together in a group while the stallion attempts to thwart the predator from attacking — and zebras are quite vocal when they sense or see a predator within the area.
I could not resist posting the looks on the faces of both zebras in the photograph shown below. Please feel free to come up with a caption of your own which you feel best describes the photograph and post it in the Comments section below, as I will look forward to reading them.
Notice how the ears are pulled backwards on the zebra to the left in the above photograph, which typically means that it is angry. When a zebra is calm — or, in this case, “friendly”, as is the other zebra in the above photograph — its ears stand erect. If a zebra is frightened, its ears tend to push forward…
…and speaking of ears, zebras have excellent hearing in addition to their equally acute senses of sight, smell and taste.
As the sun was setting behind the southern Kenyan mountains, a lone zebra grazes for its dinner — and it was time for me to grab some food as well…
…and please stay tuned for additional photographic essays from my safari in Kenya in future articles.
All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
