Zebra herbs, twigs, leaves and bark. Their digestive systems allow them to subsist on diets of lower nutritional quality than that necessary for other herbivores. Female zebras mature earlier than the males, and a mare may have her first foal by the age of three. Males are not able to breed until the age of five or six. Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months. She nurses the foal for up to a year. Like horses, zebras are able to stand, walk and suckle shortly after they are born. A zebra foal is brown and white instead of
Zebra in the late 19th century – though there is currently a plan, called the Quagga Project, that aims to breed zebras that are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back. The name "zebra" in English dates back to c. 1600, from Italian "zebra", perhaps from Portuguese, which in turn is said to be Congolese (as stated in the "Oxford English Dictionary"). The "Encarta Dictionary" says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps it may come from Latin "equiferus" meaning "wild horse"; from "equus" ("horse") and "ferus" ("wild, untamed"). The word was traditionally pronounced with a long