Zebra

Hello! I am a Plains Zebra, and I live on the big, sunny African savanna. The sun feels so warm on my back. My home has lots of tall, swaying grass and big, open spaces to run. I have a very special and beautiful coat. It is covered all over with black and white stripes! Every single one of my zebra friends has stripes, but my stripes are just for me. No two zebras have the same stripes. They are like a human's fingerprint. This makes me feel very special and unique in my sunny home.

I live with my big, wonderful family. We are called a herd. In my herd, we engage in many activities together, such as grazing and grooming, but also have individual behaviors like standing guard during rest periods. We eat our yummy grass meals together, and we play fun games together under the bright sun. We also help keep each other safe. When we all stand close to one another, our black and white stripes get all mixed up. This makes it very tricky for a sneaky lion to see just one of us. Our stripes may help us blend together as a group, making it harder for predators to single out an individual, though the exact function of our stripes is still being studied. We are always safer when we are together in our herd.

I have a very important job on the savanna, and it is also my favorite thing to do. My job is to eat lots of yummy grass! I munch and munch on the tall grass all day long. When I eat the grass, I am being a helper. Munching on the tall grass helps smaller plants grow up toward the sun. This means that other little animals can find food, too. I am so happy that I get to be a helper in my big, beautiful home. It makes me proud to know that my job helps all my savanna friends.