I know that this has already been discussed on another thread but this individual seems to have too many stripes, especially on its legs, to be a typical Damara zebra.
The body is striped like a Damara or Chapmans, but the complete striping down the legs is more like Grants. However even Damaraland Zebras can produce throwbacks with heavily striped legs- as evidenced by some animals bred in the Quagga Project. Maybe this is just one of that type?
How possible is it that this is a Damara/Grant's hybrid. Being subspecies level then I'd be surprised it it wasn't genetically possible, but I don't know the history of the individuals (where they came from etc).
How possible is it that this is a Damara/Grant's hybrid. Being subspecies level then I'd be surprised it it wasn't genetically possible, but I don't know the history of the individuals (where they came from etc).
The different sub-species of plains zebra certainly can – and do - hybridise.
However, the fact that is animal is not a typical Damara zebra does not mean that it is necessarily a hybrid; plains zebra can be quite variable in stripe pattern.
I don’t know the ancestry of the specimen in my photograph either; I would be very interested, please, if anyone can supply details.
(Incidentally, I always think that typical Damara zebra are like the ones that used to be at Bristol Zoo: shadow stripes, no stripes on the legs and stripes breaking up on the rump.)
(Incidentally, I always think that typical Damara zebra are like the ones that used to be at Bristol Zoo: shadow stripes, no stripes on the legs and stripes breaking up on the rump.)
compare this animal with the Marwell Chapman's Zebra I commented on. I still think its a Damara zebra though- but an unusual one of the 'throwback' type perhaps?
Digressing from hybrids between sub-species of plains zebra:-
It is interesting to note that according to the recent "Handbook of the Mammals of the World" (Volume 2 Ungulates), that even the different species of zebra hybridise in the wild.
At the northern edge of the plains zebra range hybrids with Grevy's zebra have been found; at the southern edge of the plains zebra range, hybrids with mountain zebra have been found.
At the northern edge of the plains zebra range hybrids with Grevy's zebra have been found; at the southern edge of the plains zebra range, hybrids with mountain zebra have been found.
Grevy and Grants sometimes ocurr in 'mixed' herds in the Northern Territories of Kenya,, though they normally keep to their own species within those herds and have different social/mating systems. Mountain zebra and Plains(damara) Zebra sometimes also assemble together(under certain circumstances e.g. drought) in places like Etosha N.P.
So its likely hybrids sometimes occur in each case, though I've never seen a photo of one.
I’ve not seen a photograph of a wild zebra hybrid, but I have a postcard from the early 1900s featuring a photograph of a mountain zebra x plains zebra hybrid in the Jardin des Plantes Menagerie (Paris).
