At the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon there are many animals but one that sticks out is the zebra. Right now, there are 14 zebras including the two foals. They are mostly named after racehorses or race-inspired names like Maple Stirrup. The Safari usually gets the zebras from different facilities, swaps, or from breeding them. The zebras have been at the Safari since 2001 or earlier according to their records.

There are three different species: the mountain, the plains, and the Grevy. The plains have a conservation status of threatened, and the mountain and Grevy are considered moderate. The typical zebra weighs 500-700 pounds and has something called true stripes which means if you shave all of their hair off, they will still have stripes.
Zebras’ stripes tend to confuse the predator and use it as a sort of camouflage in the tall grass and helps keep flies away. The main predators of zebras are lions, hyenas, wild dogs, and cheetahs. Each zebra also has a unique set of stripes, like a fingerprint. After a zebra is born it will spend a lot of time with its mother, so they can learn each other’s stripe patterns.

The typical diet for a zebra at the Safari is grass, shrubs, hay pellets, and really whatever vegetation they can find in their habitat. Zebras don’t really have any enrichments at the safari as they are mostly self-enriching. They will chase each other and after the holiday season they will be given Christmas trees which they play with.
Zebras are one of the first animals you can see in the drive-thru, and they have the largest range of land allowing you to see them from multiple vantage points. If you want to checkout the zebras, head to the Wildlife Safari drive through.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Kate Waggoner