Also, it is hypothesized that the Nile River made a natural barrier to most large mammal populations in the north and central parts of Uganda. This meant zebras living in central and southern Uganda originally came from Tanzania, while zebras in the north originally came from Kenya; with the possibility that they have never
migrated across the Nile. Currently, there are only about 3,100 zebra left in Uganda- 3,000 of them living in Central Uganda in and around Lake Mburo; and just under a hundred living in the extreme north eastern corner of Uganda- in Kidepo Valley National Park.

Zebras are on of the few larger mammals that use a pied, or black and white, pattern. Actually, zebras are mainly white with black stripes. Why zebras evolved repeating black and white stripes is often debated. It is thought that the pattern, when put together by several zebras forming a herd, distracts predators from picking out individual targets to focus their attack onto. There is no question that this pattern does, to some degree, perform that service. Often, when viewing a herd of zebras it becomes very difficult to count individuals. Another possibility for the pattern is that it is believed to somehow act as a cooling mechanism for the zebras.

Zebras are in the family Equidae, or horse family. They further belong to the odd toed ungulates- having one main hoof on each leg that they use for support. They are a highly gregarious species that enjoy coming together in large groups for social interaction. However, they all belong to a smaller group, or harem. The harem consists of a stable population of females and their young, together with a stallion. In each harem there is a hierarchy of females- lead by an alpha female. This alpha female and the stallion share in responsibilities. The alpha female will dictate when and where the harem will move while the stallion mainly protects the harem from predators and other would be stallions. As the young reach sexual maturity, about one and a half years of age, the young females will go to another group to live out the remainder of there life; while the males will be kicked out into the bachelor group.

Since not all the stallions in a zebra population can each have there own harem, the ones that do not have a harem of there own, form an amorphous group known as a bachelor herd. Here the single bachelors live together until they are able to get a harem of their own. Otherwise, they live out there entire life in the bachelor herd. The way a bachelor gets a harem is either by “stealing” females from other harems or by simply taking over an entire harem. Either way, it usually involves fierce fighting between the bachelor and the stallion of a harem. It’s important for zebras to live in some type of group since it greatly increases their chance of overall survival.

When zebras move from place to place, they walk in a line. In a harem, usually the alpha female will lead the group, followed by her offspring, then the stallion and then the lesser ranking females and their offspring.

Zebras have a wide home range. They are found as far south as the tip of South Africa, as far east as the coast
of Kenya, as far west as Namibia, and as far North as Southern Sudan. Zebras are a hardy animal and can live in a variety of habitat. However, they tend to prefer open grassland that allows for abundant grazing and the openness to watch out for predators. Zebras are known as “bulk grazers”- meaning they have the capacity to eat large amounts of low quality forage, through grazing (eating vegetation from the ground such as grasses and forbs). However, zebras are not above eating very succulent vegetation such as fresh grass, flowers, and even fruits and vegetables.