AnimalsZebras are wild horses with black and white stripes. Every zebra has its own pattern, like a fingerprint. They live in family groups that join into large herds, and often graze alongside wildebeest.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Equus quagga
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Herbivore (eats plants)
- Lives in
- Eastern and southern Africa
- Habitat
- Grassland and savanna
- A young one is called
- foal
- A group is called
- dazzle or herd
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Perissodactyla
- Family Equidae
- Genus Equus
- Species Equus quagga
Other members of the family Equidae on this site: donkey, horse.
More distant relatives in the order Perissodactyla: Indian rhinoceros, white rhinoceros.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The plains zebra is listed as Near Threatened. The species is not yet classed as threatened, but it is close and may become so soon.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.