Rare Zebra Born At LA Zoo

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Zoo is celebrating the birth of a male Grevy's zebra, marking the facility's first birth of the endangered species since 2019.

The foal was born this spring and has spent his first weeks behind the scenes bonding with his mother. After gradually becoming accustomed to his surroundings, the young zebra has begun making intermittent public appearances and is expected to be regularly visible to guests beginning next week, weather permitting.

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"This is an exciting birth for the Zoo and for the entire animal care team," Dominick Dorsa II, the Los Angeles Zoo's director of animal care, said in a statement. "It's been quite some time since we've had a Grevy's zebra foal at the Zoo, and now guests will be able to see the behaviors of a juvenile zebra that they may have not experienced before."

Native to the grasslands and scrublands of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, Grevy's zebras are the largest of the world's three zebra species. Adult males can stand about 5 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh nearly 1,000 pounds.

Like all Grevy's zebras, the new foal has a stripe pattern unique to him, similar to a human fingerprint.

Zoo officials said the birth also offers an opportunity to highlight conservation challenges facing the species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies Grevy's zebras as endangered, with populations declining by more than half over the past four decades due to habitat loss, hunting, disease and predation. Fewer than 2,000 are believed to remain in the wild.

"This birth not only helps support the Grevy's zebra population in North America, but it will undoubtedly help educate guests about this important animal," Dorothy Belanger, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo, said in a statement.

Belanger said visitors will have the chance to observe the young zebra as it grows and learn more about efforts to protect the species.

Grevy's zebras typically live 12 to 13 years in the wild but can live more than two decades in accredited zoos, according to zoo officials.