Zebras in captivity.

[CheeseChameleon1945]

I was wondering, do zoos around the world contain all of the Zebra species and subspecies?
There are some obvious ones, like Grevy's and Grant's, But I will list all the species and subspecies down below and we can find out if they do.
Grevy's Zebra Equus grevyi
Burchell's zebra Equus quagga burchellii
Grant's zebra Equus quagga boehmi
Maneless zebra Equus quagga borensis
Chapman's zebra Equus quagga chapmani
Crawshay's zebra Equus quagga crawshayi
Selous' zebra Equus quagga selousi
Cape mountain zebra Equus zebra zebra
Hartmann's mountain zebra Equus zebra hartmannae

 

[twilighter]

Tierpark Berlin had all of the zebra species until this summer, when they sent their Chapman's zebras to Sofia. I am curious are there any Crawshay's or Cape mountain zebras in captivity. Probably in South Africa?

 

[vogelcommando]

At the beginning of the 1900s both Berlin Zoo and the Zool. Soc . of New York had Crawshay's zebras.
Found a photo of the New York pair ( no copyrights anymore ) :

 

[Zorro]

I believe there is a private ranch within the USA owned by a millionaire that has a huge collection of Zebra!

 

[Pertinax]

I was wondering, do zoos around the world contain all of the Zebra species and subspecies?
There are some obvious ones, like Grevy's and Grant's, But I will list all the species and subspecies down below and we can find out if they do.
Grevy's Zebra Equus grevyi
Burchell's zebra Equus quagga burchellii
Grant's zebra Equus quagga boehmi
Maneless zebra Equus quagga borensis
Chapman's zebra Equus quagga chapmani
Crawshay's zebra Equus quagga crawshayi
Selous' zebra Equus quagga selousi
Cape mountain zebra Equus zebra zebra
Hartmann's mountain zebra Equus zebra hartmannae

Have you missed out 'Damara' zebra or is it not recognised as a subspecies?

 

[Tim May]

Have you missed out 'Damara' zebra or is it not recognised as a subspecies?

According to some authorities, the Damara zebra is no longer considered to be the subspecies Equus quagga antiquorum; it is now considered a synonym of Burchell's zebra.

 

[Bib Fortuna]

At the beginning of the 1900s both Berlin Zoo and the Zool. Soc . of New York had Crawshay's zebras.
Found a photo of the New York pair ( no copyrights anymore ) :

View attachment 461736

Many thanks for the photo. At first sight I thought they were Grant zebras, but they look very different from Crawashw zebras. Equus quagga boehmi has two more stripes under the eyes.

 

[DesertRhino150]

I believe there is a private ranch within the USA owned by a millionaire that has a huge collection of Zebra!

I wonder if its the Canyon Colorado Equid Sanctuary in New Mexico you're thinking of? I was actually re-watching the old BBC palaeontology/zoology documentary 'Wild New World' earlier this morning and noticed it mentioned in the credits.

It was certainly owned by a millionaire and had a huge collection of various species of equids - I have seen one reference suggesting 331 onager alone and both Grevy's and Hartmann's mountain zebras. Unfortunately, it seems to have closed some time ago.

 

[Bib Fortuna]

The Damara zebra is no longer considered to be the subspecies Equus quagga antiquorum; it is now considered a synonym of Burchell's zebra.

The Handbook of the Mammals of the World says very well that there is Equus quagga antiquorum, and they should know, the book is quite new ! And if I may not believe this book, the bible for zoologists, then which one ?

 

[Zorro]

I wonder if its the Canyon Colorado Equid Sanctuary in New Mexico you're thinking of? I was actually re-watching the old BBC palaeontology/zoology documentary 'Wild New World' earlier this morning and noticed it mentioned in the credits.

It was certainly owned by a millionaire and had a huge collection of various species of equids - I have seen one reference suggesting 331 onager alone and both Grevy's and Hartmann's mountain zebras. Unfortunately, it seems to have closed some time ago.

I believe you are correct but I cant remember its been a while!
If it has closed I wonder where all the stock went?

 

[twilighter]

The Handbook of the Mammals of the World says very well that there is Equus quagga antiquorum, and they should know, the book is quite new ! And if I may not believe this book, the bible for zoologists, then which one ?

The author of Equidae chapter in HMW II, Daniel Rubenstein, doesn't accept Groves and Bell proposal, that antiquorum is actually a synonym of burchelii, even if their study preceded the book publication date with 8 years.

New investigations on the taxonomy of the zebras genus Equus, subgenus Hippotigris - ScienceDirect

This is not a big surprise, since most of the authors in HMW II don't follow Groves's Ungulate Taxonomy either.

Plain zebra's number of subspecies is still controversial subject, though.

 

[Tim May]

The Handbook of the Mammals of the World says very well that there is Equus quagga antiquorum, and they should know, the book is quite new ! And if I may not believe this book, the bible for zoologists, then which one ?

I am aware that "The Handbook of the Mammals of the World" lists Equus quagga antiquorum as a valid subspecies.

My earlier post should have started with the words "according to some authorities"; I have added that to avoid future confusion.

Certainly Colin Groves thought that the two were synonymous; the late Reinhold Rau of the South African Museum was of the same opinion.

 

[red river hog]

I was wondering, do zoos around the world contain all of the Zebra species and subspecies?
There are some obvious ones, like Grevy's and Grant's, But I will list all the species and subspecies down below and we can find out if they do.
Grevy's Zebra Equus grevyi
Burchell's zebra Equus quagga burchellii
Grant's zebra Equus quagga boehmi
Maneless zebra Equus quagga borensis
Chapman's zebra Equus quagga chapmani
Crawshay's zebra Equus quagga crawshayi
Selous' zebra Equus quagga selousi
Cape mountain zebra Equus zebra zebra
Hartmann's mountain zebra Equus zebra hartmannae

In addition to the ones you mentioned, I have seen Burchell's and Hartmann's Mountain Zebras

 

[SivatheriumGuy]

Do Cape mountain zebras do fine in captivity? It's a shame that Crawshay's zebras didn't thrive as other subspecies did, I find them to be a lovely sub.

 

[RetiredToTheZoo]

I believe there is a private ranch within the USA owned by a millionaire that has a huge collection of Zebra!

You could be thinking about the Randolph Hearst estate in California. He had a private zoo collection on the grounds which contained a herd of zebras. After his death the collection was sent off to other organizations except for the zebras. Nobody wanted them. They were set free, and not cared for on the estate in the California countryside, and have prospered very well in the wild, greatly increasing in numbers. I have not seen them, but have friends that say they have seen a large herd of zebra while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. They describe it as a very strange sight.

 

[Zorro]

You could be thinking about the Randolph Hearst estate in California. He had a private zoo collection on the grounds which contained a herd of zebras. After his death the collection was sent off to other organizations except for the zebras. Nobody wanted them. They were set free, and not cared for on the estate in the California countryside, and have prospered very well in the wild, greatly increasing in numbers. I have not seen them, but have friends that say they have seen a large herd of zebra while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. They describe it as a very strange sight.

I believe it was in New Mexico as stated in one of the above posts he did have other species of Equids there as well!

 

[CrashMegaraptor]

I know Marwell Zoo, at one point, had all three species. It certainly had them all when I went there, but this is talking about quite a few years back.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

You could be thinking about the Randolph Hearst estate in California. He had a private zoo collection on the grounds which contained a herd of zebras. After his death the collection was sent off to other organizations except for the zebras. Nobody wanted them. They were set free, and not cared for on the estate in the California countryside, and have prospered very well in the wild, greatly increasing in numbers. I have not seen them, but have friends that say they have seen a large herd of zebra while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. They describe it as a very strange sight.

*beat me to it

 

[Tim May]

I know Marwell Zoo, at one point, had all three species. It certainly had them all when I went there, but this is talking about quite a few years back.

Marwell still has all three zebra species.

 

[grevy's zebra]

Marwell still has all three zebra species.

They also have Przewalski Horses and Somali Wild Asses