Zebra Species Question

Nature Boy

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Hello all. I'm going to Zambia in August. I was wondering if someone could tell me whether a Crawshay's Zebra and a Boehm's Zebra are the same animal. I shot my Boehm's in Mozambique. I know they are close but there are so many sub species and different names for the same animal that I'm not sure and the safari company doesn't seem to know for sure. Thanks
 
NO.

Boehm's Zebra or Grant's Zebra
Grant's zebra (Equus quagga boehmi)

Crawshay's zebra (Equus quagga crawshayi)


Look up the scientific name and see what you think of the differences.
 
NO.

Boehm's Zebra or Grant's Zebra
Grant's zebra (Equus quagga boehmi)

Crawshay's zebra (Equus quagga crawshayi)


Look up the scientific name and see what you think of the differences.
Thank you. That's what I thought but this helps. Do you happen to know if you can hunt them in any other countries other than Zambia where I'm going? I think I'll add this to my list now.
 
That one I will leave to a Zambian.
I’m not up on the current laws/ regs.
 
This is interesting subject.
On this forum, we generally mention only few species of Zebra, and here some new are mentioned.
Most of Zebra species on this forum mentioned are:

Mountain Zebras:
Hartmann Mountain Zebra, in namibia
Cape Mountain Zebra, South Africa

Plains Zebras:
Burchell Zebra.

But there are more.

Can sombeody more knowledgable, list below, other huntable and non huntable zebra species in Africa, and countries where they live?
 
Grevey's zebras are beautiful, but mainly in Kenya, I think. No hunting there, of course.
 
Not only that. Aftre my research I came to following:
Grevy Zebra is small in numbers, possibly even cites 1.
There are three main zebra species: plains zebra, mountain zebra, and grevy zebra.
And number od subspecies. Grevy is off limits.
As per IUCN:
Plains Zebra
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41013/45172424

Gravys Zebra
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7950/89624491

Mountain Zebra -
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7960/160755590

Full list with subspecies (alegedly)

 

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Otherway around, they are black with white stripes.


 
Otherway around, they are black with white stripes.


Hm, I thought they had a white coat because their bellies are white. Thanks for correcting me.
 
@Lead
Yes, the white bellies are the reason for this beleif. But, note, that plains zebra has the stripes across the belly as well. White belly is typical for mountain zebra
 
If you can take a Crawshay's, I'd go for it. I'm planning a hunt to Zambia just for the Crawshay's.
But to answer your question, Crawshay's and Grant's/Boehms are two separate sub-species.

The zebra line is a tricky one and people will argue about the differences. They can agree on three species of zebra; Grevy's, Mt. Zebra, and Plains.
They can agree on two sub-species of Mt. Zebra, but the Plains zebra is where it turns into muddy water.
The Grevy is off-limits to hunting.
The Mt Zebra has two sub-species, the Hartmann's and Cape. The Cape is currently not exportable to the USA unless you haul it across the border into Namibia and ship it out as a Hartmann's, which still requires a CITES permit and it would take a DNA sample to tell the difference.
The Plains zebra, the gray area, has five, six, or maybe even seven, subspecies, depending on who you talk to. The most common is the Plains/Burchell's/Damara. Some will argue that the Burchell's and Damara are two separate sub-species? Then there is the Chapman's, the Crawshay's, the Grant's/Boehm, the Selous', the Maneless, and we could toss in the extinct Quagga, which by the way, they are trying to bring back through genetic breeding programs.
And some will read the above and disagree on some or all of that information. It would be nice if there was a biologist somewhere in Africa that would do a comprehensive study on zebra and publish a book dedicated to that work. No other animals, just zebra, chock-full of pictures, DNA studies, distribution maps, etc.

As an example of confusion. I shot a zebra south of Windhoek, Namibia on my trip in 2019. At the time, my PH stated it was a Burchell's. Since then, others have seen the pictures/video and told me, no, that is a Chapman's. To this day, I don't know for sure which one it is.

For me, the zebra is my all-time favorite animal to take with a bow and if I'm lucky enough to return to Africa in the future, a zebra will be on the list should the opportunity present itself.
 
@Dee S
You have summarized excellently.
 
@Dee S
You have summarized excellently.
Thanks, I've done my research, but I am no expert, and I am certainly not a biologist. Just a guy that loves zebra.
My daughter is a biology major at Texas A&M and I have tried talking her into becoming that 'expert' on zebra so she can write the book. She can do the research, I'll take the pictures. Our last PH, when I told him this, said "yes, we could call you a zebraologist!" So far, she's not taking the bait. :cautious:
 
When i was researching zebras, i found out that all resources are confusing. They are wonderful animals. They are iconic species of Africa. I have collected a Hartman stallion in Namibia, 2018. An african trophy room, simply must have zebra, possibly a local subspecies / species for the hunting ground.
 

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