A Burchell’s Zebra, Equus quagga burchellii, ‘laughing’ in Etosha National Park, Namibia. The yellow flowers are Tribulus terrestris, locally known as Devil’s Thorn.
Burchell’s Zebra are distinguishable from the other Plains Zebra subspecies by their ‘shadow stripes’ between the dark and light stripes, most noticeable towards their rumps. This subspecies is found in Southern Africa e.g. in Chobe N.P., and also in Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal.
Zebras of all kinds often look round-bellied. This is due to the way they digest the cellulose in the grass they process by means of fermentation, with the aid of microbes in their stomachs. This releases a lot of gas, making them ‘bloated’.
There is still no agreement about why Zebras are striped. Previous theories which have now been discounted include the idea that it helped camouflage, or that the light and dark stipes somehow helped the animals to regulate their body temperatures. The current front-runner out of several scientific theories, is that biting insects don’t like to land on the stripes.
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It is available for sale as various types of wall art, and as home and personal accessories, from my gallery at Pixels.com.
My original photo of a laughing zebra, from which the image is derived, is available to purchase as a stock photo from my portfolio at iStock.
