AWF Blog

  • We Are Equine Family!

    Posted: July 17, 2009, 9:57 pm by Erin

    “One of my favorite animals in the world is the horse. I love horses! Since you started this blog, I wanted to ask the question I have always wanted to ask: are there any horses native to Africa?”

    -Jen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Well, yes and no. There are horses that are native to Africa but they did not originate in Africa.

    The Barb horses of northern Africa (they get their name as they were developed along the Barbary Coast of northern Africa in roughly the 8th Century) probably originated from the nearby middle eastern region and — like camels — came to Africa with the migrating people of this region. The Barb horses — of which there are three breeds: the Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian — are native to Africa, but they did not originate on the continent.

    That being said, there are a quite a few beautiful and wonderful animals within the equine family that are native to AND originate on the African continent: the African wild ass (Equus africanus), the Nubian wild ass (Equus africanus africanus), the Somali wild ass (Equus africanus somaicus), the Plains zebra (Equus quagga), Grevy’s zebra (Equus Grevy), Mountain zebra (Equus sebra), Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga burchellii), Grant’s zebra (Equus quagga boehmi), Selous’ zebra (Equus quagga borensis), Chapman’s zebra (Equus quagga chapmani), Crawshay’s zebra (Equus quagga crawshayi), the Cape Mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) and Hartmann’s mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae).

    Not a horse but still family: a dazzle of Grevy’s zebras

    Did You Know…?

    - The Grevy’s zebra is also known as the Imperial zebra

    - Zebras are more closely related to the African wild ass than horses

    - The name ‘zebra’ comes from the Old Portuguese word ‘zevra’ meaning ‘wild ass’

    - The Swahili word for zebra is punda milia which literally means striped donkey

    - The Plains zebra (aka the Common zebra) has six sub-species in its genealogy, including the extinct Quagga

    Wait! Before You Go…

    Although not a horse, zebras are, indeed, a part of the equine family and you can take action to help protect them. Feel free to drop on by our adoption center here http://www.awf.org/adopt where you can adopt Leperit the zebra, a herd of zebras or an acre (or more) of land to give the zebras room to roam like the wild stallions (and mares) they are. You can also help AWF help the endangered Grevy’s zebra by supporting AWF’s Grevy’s Zebra Research Project.

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