Why are zebras endangered
Zebras are alluring creatures to watch in a safari or in a zoo. Their striped horse appearance suffices in enthralling the watcher. Add to it their glorious confident persona in groups, and zebras come across as simply fascinating. The zebra family is divided into three major groupings – the Plains Zebra, the Grevy Zebra and the Mountain Zebra. Grevy Zebras get their name from an interesting historical anecdote. Jules Grevy, a former French President received one such zebra from Abyssinia in the 1880s. This led to the nomenclature of these creatures as Grevy Zebras.
The Plain Zebras are well established in the jungles of Africa. The Mountain Zebra, also called Equus Zebra, finds home in the southern and southwestern Africa. Unfortunate as it may sound, the zebra population across the globe is dwindling, so much so that both the Mountain Zebras as well as the Grevy Zebras are reckoned to be approaching annihilation from the face of earth. Like many other species, zebras have also faced the wrath of human greed. An insanely materialistic attitude has blinded man from the past few centuries now, the result being the exponential decrease in the number of zebras jogging on the earth. Zebras have been slaughtered for their skin and hide by unscrupulous hunters from many years now, and this is acknowledged as the major cause of the Mountain Zebra’s endangered status.
The African forest and wildlife conservation authorities have been unable to keep a tab on the poaching activities going on uninhibitedly in the dense woods of the region. The rapid advent of the age of urbanization has also set the alarm bells ringing for zebras because the wide scale sorest clearing means less room for zebras. Increased competition with cattle and livestock that feed on grass pressurizes their already distressful situation. The dissipating forest covers all over the world can do the efforts of wildlife conservationists no good. It is the need of the hour for all humans to recognize the real threat posed to biodiversities of all sorts, zebras included.