Audubon Zoo in New Orleans has three Hartmann’s mountain zebra, a species the zoo has never held before and one rarely seen in human care anywhere. There are just 80 of them across 20 AZA facilities in the entire country.
Not the zebra you are picturing
Hartmann’s mountain zebra are the smallest subspecies of zebra, standing four to five feet tall and weighing between 450 and 820 pounds. They carry the familiar black or deep brown and white striping, but unlike other zebras their neck stripes run vertically.
They come from the arid mountains and plateaus of coastal Namibia, parts of southern Angola and northern South Africa: mountain country rather than open plain, and their anatomy shows it. Their hooves are pointed, which is what lets them climb rocky terrain that would defeat a plains zebra. They also use those hooves to dig into riverbeds for water when there is none at the surface.
That last detail is the one worth carrying around. A zebra that excavates its own water source is solving a problem most grazing animals simply migrate away from.
Audubon has been adding steadily this year, including a third California sea lion in April.
Why they are vulnerable
Hartmann’s mountain zebra are listed as vulnerable to extinction. The pressures are habitat loss from livestock farming, climate-induced drought, and competition for water, with the drought and the water competition amounting to the same problem arriving from two directions.
Seeing them
Eighty animals across twenty institutions means most people in the United States have no realistic opportunity to see this subspecies. New Orleans now does.
Worth looking closely rather than filing them mentally under “zebra”: check the neck. The vertical striping is the tell, and once you have seen it you will not mistake a Hartmann’s for anything else.
Quick answers
- How rare is a Hartmann's mountain zebra in an American zoo?
There are just 80 across 20 AZA facilities in the entire country. Audubon Zoo has three, a species it has never held before.
- How do they differ from other zebras?
They are the smallest subspecies, standing four to five feet tall and weighing between 450 and 820 pounds. Their neck stripes run vertically, unlike other zebras, and their hooves are pointed, which lets them climb rocky terrain that would defeat a plains zebra.
- Where do they live?
The arid mountains and plateaus of coastal Namibia, parts of southern Angola and northern South Africa. They use their hooves to dig into riverbeds for water when there is none at the surface.
- What is their conservation status?
Hartmann's mountain zebra are listed as vulnerable to extinction.
