Zebra

Bedazzled by Cape Mountain Zebra

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Cape_Mountain_Zebra_stallion

Don’t you love these stripes?  Like wrinkled stockings, it’s irresistible to think that the legs need pulling up.  Each zebra has it’s own unique pattern and it’s interesting to spot the individuals from their distinctive markings.  The purpose of these stripes has led to various theories – one is that is it may help regulate temperature.  Another is camouflage, and from experience these animals have a way of blending into the landscape.  The dazzle of the stripes may also make it more difficult for predators to target a single animal when grouped together in a herd.

Cape_mountain_zebra_stallion_and_foal

Some years ago, there was a happy event with the birth of a zebra foal (born 19 July 2011) here at the Cape of Good Hope Reserve.  Above is a shot of Pa and the male foal; mother and another female complete the small herd.  You’ll note their distinctive face patterns and how they differ especially the stripes below their eyes.

Cape_Mountain_Zebra_Female

 

Perhaps the female, above (December 2012) is the mother of the foal.  The lines below her eyes are cleanly and evenly spaced.

I’ve kept track of the family observing them over the last few years and through photographs can identify the individuals.   Early in winter this year the group split and recently I photographed the alpha stallion with only one female and the assume that the young male is with the other.

Cape_mountain_zebra_at_CapePoint

The stallion above, photographed on 5 September this year and the female below.  See how their face patterns match up with the early 2012 shots?

Cape_Mountain_zebra_female

Wikipedia has the following information:

The Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) is a subspecies of mountain zebra that occurs in certain mountainous regions of the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. It is the smallest of all existing zebra species and also the most geographically restricted. Although once nearly driven to extinction, the population has now been increased by several conservation methods, and is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Zebra crossing

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Waiting to cross…
The all-clear.
Pause for a breather.
To the other side.
Browsing.

The term “a dazzle” – the collective noun for zebra leapt to mind this morning as I stopped to watch the small family cross in front of me.   Okay! they’re not roaming free, but are contained here in the the nearby Cape Point Reserve.  They have featured in this blog in other posts, I ‘ve met them while cycling or hiking, but today it was a morning outing by car.  What a stroke of luck to find them on my route.  By the way how do you like that descriptive term, a dazzle?

The Cape Mountain zebra is a separate species from the Plains zebra, Hartmann’s and Burchell’s.  Their numbers dwindled right down to fewer than 80 individuals in the 1950’s due to excessive hunting and loss of habitat.  Their survival is thanks to the protection by a private landowner in the Cradock area which is now the Mountain Zebra National Park.   By the 1990’s the population had increased to a point where translocations to at least 25 other protected areas and game ranches took place. Today their status is listed as “vulnerable” by the IUCN with a population figure of about 2,800 animals.

They differ from the other zebra species and can be distinguished by their dewlap and white belly.  I marvel at the way their stripes intersect and checker at the top of the spine and tail, and how the patterns space down the leg and crowd around the ankles rather like sagging socks.  The last foal in this group was born in 2011, we keep hoping that another could be on the way.

Symmetry

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Zebra are often hard to spot with their symmetry of pattern lines. They blend in well against a rocky background and the patterns confuse the predator when they are on the move.

“Symmetry is this week’s photo challenge.  Click here to find more examples of this week’s subject.

 

Patterns

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Nature the designer, has a way with patterns.  Some may be well defined or repeated while others may be completely random.

240 million years in the making, the exquisite detail of a polished ammonite fossil.
Each zebra has it’s own particular stripe design. I admire the way the pattern down the backbone to the tail merge.
Feathers, the repeating spots of a guinea fowl offers good camouflage.

This post is in response to WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge.   For more information on the topic pop over to the site for Sara Rosso challenge

Surprise: Zebra on the beach!

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This week’s photo challenge,  from Sara Rosso is posted as follows  –

“Surprise. There was talk of some sort of apocalypse today, but so far, so good. Big surprise! In honor of the world continuing, show me some surprises! If you’re at a loss what to share, I bet many of you have surprises hidden under a tree or in a closet somewhere. My photo is about the first big snowfall which surprised us overnight here in Italy. I woke up to a world covered in white and these were my first steps into the snow.

Share a picture which means SURPRISE to you!”

It’s a great topic as it opens up a variety of subjects –  so if you’d like to be “surprised”, pop over to the WordPress site –

A puzzle, a riddle of stripes, so beautifully put together that you can only admire the design – here’s my ‘surprise story’:

The Cape Mountain zebra is on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.  Last year in the Cape Point Nature reserve there were great celebrations as a foal was born on 19th July (2011). I’ve been on the lookout ever since, only ever catching a glimpse of the family group in the far distance.   Then last week, there they were in a totally unexpected area, a busy part of the park where people congregate to use boat launching facilities, tidal pools, picnic and barbecue sites.  It was late afternoon and most of the day visitors had left, and i imagine that they’d come down attracted by the inviting sweet, green grass.  Still it’s unusual to photographa Cape Mountain zebra against a beach backdrop with breaking waves and it reinforced the awe of the surprising sighting. Cape Mountain zebra, Buffels Bay. _DSC9847