Saturday, May 14, 2005
celebrating stripes
i m finally writing an entry. i was busy, very busy. with what, u ask?busy celebrating stripes.you all know i dont particularly like small animals..doesnt mean that i dislike BIG ones!i have just adopted a pet.yes.it's not my 1st pet of my life..but it is my favourite.i've always like stripes and polka dots. well. but stripes have always been more appealing to me. so here. i looked at Stripes for the first time and i fell in love with him.(i cant tell if it's a boy of girl, so i just assume)i've never love an animal so much. ok. i have never love any animals before actually. *laughs___________________________________________________________________
Stripes is a zebra. beautiful hoofed animal. so here's some facts about his species in general..
characterised by one toe. and this single hoof is probably an adaptation for fast motion on hard ground. which is totally suited for the cemented ground downstairs.
rely almost totally on a variety of grasses, along with some additional browse like leaves and twigs.that explains why those grass at the ground level of my hall looks pathetic.he ate them all.almost.
twins are rare.
know what the young of a zebra call? a foal. stripes is a foal. and it is learning how to walk. well.just like a baby eh?
noisy and restless animals (due to predators). They have a distinctive call, which may be described as a frequently repeated barking whinny. gosh. noisy.really. he woke me up a few times.
At night, families gather together while one family member remains awake to look out for predators. Stripes still think he needs to do guard duty, so he actually stays up on some nights.
Seen One Stripe, Seen Them All?Not when it comes to zebras! While all zebras are easily identified by their dark and light stripes, each species of zebra has its own variation of striping. At first all Zebras look alike however, every Zebra has a unique and different stripe pattern, like a fingerprint.
my dearest Stripes is unique, k? come visit him one day. you're invited!
Zebras have shiny coats that dissipate over 70 percent of incoming heat, and some scientists believe the stripes help the animals withstand intense solar radiation.
The black and white stripes are a form of camouflage called disruptive coloration that breaks up the outline of the body. Although the pattern is visible during daytime, at dawn or in the evening when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse predators by distorting true distance.
oh. Stripes is a plains zebra.
in captivity, zebras can actually live up to 40 years. i have a long-lasting pet! can keep it till i am 60yrs!
Family groups are stable members maintaining strong bonds over many years. Mutual grooming, where zebras stand together and nibble the hair on each other's neck and back, helps develop and preserve these bonds. so now i have taken over the grooming. have to keep stopping him from nibbling my hair off.
the ultimate question: Are Zebras White with Black Stripes or Black with White Stripes?Apparently, most Africans think zebras are black with white stripes. Zebra skin color is mostly black, but what we see are rows of white and black hair. This question is something similar to "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" well well. i dont know what's the exact answer to this.but i thought the same as the Africans. must be the influence of the roads. tarred road with white zebra crossing. *laughs
on a more serious note:
The plains zebra is the only species of wild equid not near or on the verge of extinction. Both the Grevy's zebra and the mountain zebra are listed as endangered, along with one other species in the family Equidae.While plains zebra populations remain plentiful, their numbers diminished greatly in the last century. This is for several reasons. Humans hunt them for sport and their skins. Zebras have also lost much suitable and expansive enough habitat, due to the rapid expansion of human populations. As with so many large animals, both prey and predator, humans pose the greatest risk to zebra's continued existence in the wild.
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old habits die hard. since when i love animals?! gosh.and who keeps a zebra. (although u can be a zooParent- which means u pay for maintainence for an animal at a zoo)and for your information,a foal can stand almost immediately and run within a day. zebras are highly social animals. they cant live alone.While several attempts have been made over the last two centuries, zebras have never been successfully domesticated!
dictated by the Queen at 9:24 AM
