Zebra Coloration Question

[358 Norma]

Here's a few closeup pictures of the Zebra I took in SA in June.

 

[dchum]

As the OP, I don't mind. Hahaha.

I feel like the first few answers did a great job at answering the question. I think the differences I have seen mostly have to do with Hartmann's Mountain Zebra having the lighter stripes especially in the face. And I do think there is some natural variation even within the Burchell that explains some of what I've seen as well.

I do wonder because the one person said they have seen some turn from black to yellow from taxidermy. So if anyone reading this comes along and has had that happen with theirs, I would be interested in knowing because I think it's interesting.

 

[Sabre]

View attachment 627058

This reminds me of a couple zebra mounts I have seen that a lot of it looked faded. I figured it might have happened from sun exposure.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

This reminds me of a couple zebra mounts I have seen that a lot of it looked faded. I figured it might have happened from sun exposure.

No taxidermy mounts or hides should ever be in direct sun. Too destructive.

 

[Hank2211]

The Hartmann mountain zebra has a dewlap which the Burchell’s does not. It seems lots of taxidermists - both in Africa and especially North America - tend to mount the Hartmann without the dewlap. Perhaps they treat all zebra as Burchell’s - which are more common by far.

The stripes on the Hartmann are also different - some have mentioned the lack of a shadow stripe on the Hartmaan, which is one difference, but there are others - the stripes on the rear of the Hartmann will almost invariably have a ‘fish bone” pattern, which you don’t see on the Burchell’s. The Hartmaan’s will also have stripes down to their hooves, while the Burchell’s tend not to have stripes which stop higher up on their legs. And as noted, the stripes on the face of the Hartmann tend to be lighter in colour than the rest of the body and lighter than you find on the Burchell’s - often quite tan in colour.

As for how they taste, I’ve tried both and find that they are the same, and I’m not a fan of either one. Yes, the fat on the Burchell’s is yellow, and there tends to be a fair bit of it, but that may be just an artifact of the diet of each - the life of a mountain zebra in Namibia tends to be harder than the life of a plains zebra in Africa, so they may tend towards less fat.

Lastly, the two (sub) species readily interbreed, and where game ranchers have not been careful, that happens, with unfortunate results for genetic purity. So you may find one type of zebra with some traits of the other.

 

[JP50]

This was in 2019 - we had the fillets, very tasty too- I believe the rest was going for sausage. This was a young stallion. I don’t think the fat looks to bad on this carcass.