Zebras are more than just horses with stripes, which was something that European colonists would discover out the tough way after numerous failed attempts to domesticate them. While a couple of zebras were tamed here and there in the 19th and 18th centuries, as one can witness in historic pictures showing zebras pulling carts or individuals riding them, it proved excessive work and any subsequent effort to harness zebras for work along with humans was deserted.
This short article originally appeared in 2021.
A zonky: half zebra and half donkey. Credit: Ruth Boraggina/Wikimedia Commons.
Woman riding a tamed zebra named Bromar in 1923. Credit: Public Domain.
Unlike wild horses, zebras in the open African savanna had numerous more predators to fret about, consisting of strong lions, lightning-fast cheetahs, and cunning hyenas. As such, natural selection created zebras into really reactive animals that are ready to jump at the tiniest indication of risk. Zebras are particularly spirited and will considerably resist getting recorded.
Lord Walter Rothschild, of the notorious Rothschild banking household, riding a carriage pulled by zebras. Credit: Public Domain.
In the 19th century, George Grey imported zebras from South Africa to New Zealand, where he was newly appointed governor and was fond of having a carriage pulled by the wild African equids. Victorian-era zoologist Lord Walter Rothschild notoriously drove a carriage drawn by zebras to Buckingham Palace.
Regardless of their poney-like size, some zebras have actually handled to eliminate assaulting lions with a single back kick. Zebras have no household structure and no hierarchy, unlike wild horses that live in herds and have a structured order.
Despite their horse-like appearance, zebras will not send quickly to people. They like to live life as nature planned: constantly by themselves terms.
Like donkeys and horses, zebras belong to the Equidae family (known as equids). The three species are so closely related that they can interbreed and form hybrids such as a zedonk (a cross between a male zebra and a female donkey), a zorse (the offspring of a male zebra and a female horse), and a zonie (hybrid between zebras and ponies). But unlike their cousins, zebras resisted submitting to people. Why is that? Zebras are native to Africa, the cradle of mankind.
Nevertheless, these were just a number of circumstances of tamed individuals. Overall, zebras proved too persistent to domesticate, in spite of the very best efforts of European colonists in Africa who would have made good usage of them. Even current efforts have shown somewhat useless. In 2013, a teen in Virginia, Shea Inman, trained a zebra to ride it. After many months of patience and reward-based training, she managed somewhat to ride the zebra, although Inman kept in mind: “Some days its like hes been riding for 30 years and other days he imitates hes never seen a human.”
It might all have to do with natural choice. Zebras and horses diverged from a typical ancestor around 4-4.7 million years back, and each ended up being adjusted to their specific environments. Herds of wild horses in North America and Europe were at first kept as food animals, however later on became familiar with human beings. After the advent of agriculture 12,000 years earlier, horses proved their worth in transport and warfare, which triggered humans to invest time and effort into domesticating them by selectively breeding the tamest individuals.
The German army in its German East Africa nest was particularly interested in domesticating zebras in lieu of horses. They even implemented a program to cross zebras with horses to develop hybrids that were resistant to illness that usually eliminated imported horses.
A German soldier riding a zebra in Zanzibar, German East Africa, in the 1890s. Credit: Public Domain.
The 3 species are so closely associated that they can interbreed and form hybrids such as a zedonk (a cross in between a male zebra and a female donkey), a zorse (the offspring of a male zebra and a female horse), and a zonie (hybrid between ponies and zebras). Zebras and horses diverged from a common ancestor around 4-4.7 million years earlier, and each became adjusted to their specific environments. Unlike wild horses, zebras in the open African savanna had lots of more predators to fret about, consisting of strong lions, lightning-fast cheetahs, and cunning hyenas. Zebras have no household structure and no hierarchy, unlike wild horses that live in herds and have a structured order.
German colonial officer riding a tame zebra leaping a fence in East Africa. Image taken in between 1890 and 1923. Credit: Prints & & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
After numerous months of perseverance and reward-based training, she managed somewhat to ride the zebra, although Inman noted: “Some days its like hes been riding for 30 years and other days he acts like hes never seen a human being.”
