Equus zebra
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English: Zebra
German: Zebra
French: Zebre
Spanish: Cebra
Distribution areas
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A few varieties of the zebra are found
in Eastern and Southern Africa. The
individual varieties differ in size and in
small details of the body shape.
Description of the fur
---------------------- The surface structure
The hides vary in size and most typical of the skin, 200x
feature is the striped light and dark
coloration over the whole surface. At the back, near the head, is the mane,
the hairs of which are about 8 - 16 cm long. The hair coat is coarse and
relatively thick. The hair of the zebra is straight, very coarse and up to 65
mm long, except the mane where it is longer. The under-fur layer is not
visible. The hair fibres are brown, white or of other colours, usually grey
or yellow.
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Equus zebra
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English: Zebra
German: Zebra
French: Zebre
Spanish: Cebra
Structure of the hair
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The microscopic structure of the skin
surface is furrowed; the hair follicles are
narrow with straight edges and usually
contain one hair shaft.
The fine fur fibres are relatively
scarce and from 20 to 30 µm in diameter. Transverse section
The cross-sectional outline is circular and of a fine fur fibre, 400x
the cuticular scales are cornet-like with a
smooth scale surface and straight scale margins. These and the other hair
fibres in the zebra coat are non-medullated.
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Equus zebra
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English: Zebra
German: Zebra
French: Zebre
Spanish: Cebra
The intermediate fibres and guard hairs
very similar in microscopic structure. The
only difference is in their thickness. Most
of the fibres are circular in cross-section
and the diameter is from 50 to 130 µm. A
small proportion of the hairs is also
ellipsiodal in outline. The cuticular
scales are even tile-like in shape. The
surface is smooth and the scale margins are The surface structure
straight but, in the upper parts of the of the skin, 100x
shaft, they are also rippled.
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Equus zebra
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English: Zebra
German: Zebra
French: Zebre
Spanish: Cebra
Transverse section
of an intermediate fibre, 400x
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Equus zebra
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English: Zebra
German: Zebra
French: Zebre
Spanish: Cebra
The cuticular structure
of a guard hair, 600x
Numerical code for zebra skin structure
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Surface of the skin: 3-4-1
Fine fur fibres: 1-5-1-1.2-4-0-0-0-0-20.31-5.15
Intermediate fibres: 1.2-2-1-1.2-4-0-0-0-0-50.81-25.41
Guard hairs: 1.2-2-1-1.2-4-0-0-0-0-80.131-40.65
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