Plains Zebra - Equus quagga

The one animal that does not need much editing to fit the black and white visual stimulation theory is the Zebra. This is one of 3 species of Zebra, the other two being the Grevy’s and Mountain. The plains Zebra can be further broken down into 6 subspecies.

The Zebra is in fact a black animal with white stripes. The stripes can help us to identify the different species and subspecies.

The Plains Zebra is listed as ‘Near Threatened’, while the Grevy’s is  ‘Endangered’ and the Mountain is ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Redlist. 

They face a number of threats, the biggest stress comes in the form of agricultural development. As they are a migratory species, their migration paths can be cut off which may leave them stranded for food and water in times of drought. This is another increasing risk to many species, climate change, as the climate changes so does access to necessary food and water sources. Hunting, more for their valuable skins than meat is also a major threat for the Zebra, especially in East Africa where the subspecies coat is missing the shadow stripes present in the southern Africa subspecies.