2. INTRODUCTION
Grevy’s Zebra is the largest zebra species
endogenous to the regions of Kenya and
Ethiopia
They live in grasslands where they feed
primarily on grass and other legumes
Females are polyandrous (Ginsberg and Rubenstein, 1990)
Social setting comprises of many females
and their young- there is normally no
dominant male (Rubenstein, 2010)
Considered endangered
3. HYPOTHESIS
Ifyou observe a mother and infant Grevy’s
zebra, the adult will display a smaller variety
of behaviors, while the juvenile will display
more ‘play’ and ‘locomotion’ behaviors.
Prediction: There will be a significant
difference in the mother and infant
behaviors, particularly in play and
locomotion.
4. METHODS
Focal scan
I observed the mother zebra and her male foal at the
Detroit Zoo
Observation periods were from 11:00-11:30AM
(mother) and 11:30-12:00PM (foal)
Behaviors documented:
Rest
Locomotion
Grazing
Nursing
Play
Kicking
Cleaning
Grunt (event)
5. BEHAVIORS
Rest: the zebra is laying down and/or sleeping
Locomotion: The zebra is running around
Grazing: A zebra is eating grass or other vegetation
Play: A zebra engages another zebra to run or jump
with them
Nursing: Female zebra feeds her young
Kicking: Zebra rubs its back feet on the ground
multiple times
Cleaning: Zebra licks/nudges its own skin
Grunt: Zebra lets out a loud guttural neighing noise
7. RESULTS CONT.
My hypothesis was not supported. Although the
infant did display more playing behavior, the mother
displayed more locomotion. There was not a
significant difference between these 2 results.
Surprisingly, the mother and infant had almost
identical behaviors.
The difference in their grazing times was only off by
about 21 seconds. After further review I found that
foals and their mothers are almost inseparable
during the first year of an infant’s life (Churcher, 1993). This
can explain why the behaviors were almost
identical.
8. DISCUSSION
There were a couple things that did not correlate
with my hypothesis and were surprising, but after
further research I noticed that my data
corresponded with previously documented zebra
behaviors
I was curious of the lack of nursing, but research
shows that Grevy’s foals spend less time nursing
than any other equid(Becker and Ginsberg, 1990).
I think my behaviors were relatively clear, but
sometimes it was hard to differentiate between
locomotion and play. Even if I had thought of a
better description, it would’ve been hard to
distinguish between the two because of their
similarity.
9. The only behavior I did not observe was rest-
otherwise most of them were well observed. The
most abundant activity was grazing, which I
expected.
I wouldn’t change any of my behaviors if I had to re-
do this project, almost all of them were used. I
would also stay with focal sampling because there
were only 3 zebras total in the habitat.
I would have liked to observe more than one of the
mother-infant pair. Although I feel that my results
probably do compare to most pairs across the
population of zebras, more data could have helped
to disprove or support my hypothesis.
10. FUN FACTS
There is a large sperm competition in males
because of the polyandrous sexual selection of the
females.
There are no cases of infanticide. A female will
leave a territory if her foal is killed, therefore if
another male comes to a territory with a female and
her foal, he must raise the infant as his own to
ensure reproductive success.
They were named after the French president, Jules
Grevy, in 1882
Every zebra’s stripes are unique
11. CONCLUSION
Although my hypothesis was not supported, the
data collected on the behaviors of Grevy’s zebra’s
is significant. It shows that a mother and foal equid
are nearly inseparable during the first year of the
infant’s life.
If I were to redo my ethogram, I would have chosen
a different hypothesis. My new hypothesis would be
that there will be no difference in the behaviors of
mother and infant Grevy’s zebra, because typically
mothers and their offspring are typically attached to
each other during the formative years of an infant’s
life.
