Zebra black and white at birth. Plains and mountain zebra foals are protected by their mothers, as well as the head stallion and the other mares in their group. Grévy's zebra foals have only their mother as a regular protector, since, as noted above, Grévy's zebra groups often disband after a few months. Attempts have been made to train zebras for riding, since they have better resistance than horses to African diseases. While occasionally successful, most of these attempts failed due to the zebra's more unpredictable nature and tendency to panic under stress. For this reason, zebra-mules or zebroids (crosses between
Burchell's zebra Burchell's zebra Burchell's zebra ("Equus quagga burchellii") is a southern subspecies of the plains zebra. It is named after the British explorer and naturalist William John Burchell. Common names include bontequagga, Damara zebra, and Zululand zebra (Gray, 1824). Burchell's zebra is the only subspecies of zebra which may be legally farmed for human consumption. Like most plains zebras, females and males are relatively the same size, standing 1.1 to 1.4 meters (3.75 to 4.6 feet) at the shoulder. They weigh between 485 to 550 pounds. Year-round reproduction observed in this subspecies in Etosha National Park, Namibia, concludes synchronization of a