Featured Photograph – Injured Zebra

We spotted this Plains Zebra in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. As is often the case, it was part of a larger group of young males known as a ‘batchelor herd’.

I was keen to photograph this individual as it had an obvious injury to its neck. We’ll never know why for sure, but there is a natural history story behind this sort of injury.

Male zebras will often fight for dominance of herds using their powerful upper and lower incisors to bite each other on the neck, possibly to induce paralysis. Neck biting is also a cause of death to young males via acts of infanticide. Like lions, male zebras will kill the male foals when they win dominance of a herd.