Zebras

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/grevys-zebra

  Zebras are a part of the Family Equidae along with Horses and Asses/Donkeys.  Zebras live in the continent of Africa, with greater concentrations along the south and eastern areas of the continent.

  The most defining feature of Zebras is their black and white striping.  The stripes are usually described as black and white, but some may be brown or cream or tan, especially when viewed up close.  The pattern is unique to each individual, but there are general features in each species that can indicate which species you are looking at.  Foals may be paler in colouration when they are born, but will darken as they mature.  Leucistic and abundistic (a form of pseudo-melanism where spots and stripes become thicker, cover more of the body, and make the animal appear to be melanistic) varieties can and do exist in the wild, and are not a separate species or subspecies, but are a variation that any species can display.

  There are many hypothesis for why Zebras are striped.  The cryptic patterning can make it harder for predators to distinguish individuals in a herd, and it may also have thermoregulatory advantages.  The theory that seems to hold the most water is that the contrasting colours makes it harder for biting flies to see them.  Dark pigments polarize light into the horizontal plane, and lighter pigments and lack of pigment only reflects light.  The combination of the two in stripes confuse the flies eyes, and they are unable to see them from a distance, which makes it less likely for flies to detect them and land on them.

  So there are several reasons why the Zebra may have evolved stripes, but are they black with white stripes or white with black stripes?  Embryological studies have shown that Zebra foals are black in utero and only develop their white striping shortly before birth.  This, along with the fact that most markings are lighter than the base colour and not the other way around, and the fact that their skin is black even under the white stripes, has conclusively shown that Zebras are, indeed, black with white stripes.

  There are three species of Zebra, with several subspecies; the Mountain, Grevy's, and Plains Zebras.  

The Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra) has two subspecies; 

Cape (Equus zebra zebra)

Hartmann's (Equus zebra hartmannae).  

The Grevy's (Equus grevyi) has only the one species.

The Plains (Equus quagga) has 7 subspecies, including the extinct;

Quagga (Equus quagga quagga)

 The other 6 extant (living) subspecies are the ;

Burchell's/Damara (Equus quagga berchelli)

Grant's (Equus quagga boehmi)

Selous' (Equus quagga seloisi)

Maneless (Equus quagga brensis)

Champman's (Equus quagga chapmani)

Crawshay's (Equus quagga crawshayi)

  One of the key features that distinguish the species from each other is the distribution of stripes over the body. Both Mountain and Grevy's Zebras have stripes that do not cover the underbelly, leaving their stomachs a solid white, while the Plains Zebra has stripes that do cover the entirety of the body. Grevy's Zebras tend to have very round ears and and a distinct border of white around their brown muzzle.  Mountains have dewlaps, usually seen in stallions, and are more evident in the Cape Zebra than the Hartmann's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_mountain_zebra

A Cape Mountain Zebra, displaying the characteristic dewlap and bare belly. Note how the stripes on the face become brown and attach to the tan muzzle.

https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/plains-zebra/

A Plains Zebra, likely not a Burchell's or Chapman's as those subspecies (and some Crawshay's)  have brown, secondary stripes too.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burchell%27s_zebra

A Burchell's Zebra, displaying the secondary "shadow" stripes.

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/grevys-zebra

A Grevy's Zebra.  Note the large, round ears, thin striping, and the white break between the muzzle and the stripes on the rest of the face.

  The Maneless Zebra is a subspecies of Plains that is, as the name suggests, maneless! Mares do have short manes, but the mature stallions do not!

  All species of Zebra are under threat by human activity. Destruction of habitat, hunting for skins, fencing that restricts migration routes and access to water, and competition with livestock are all serious threats to Zebra populations.  According to the IUCN, the Mountain Zebra is Vulnerable, the Plains Zebra is Near Threatened, and the Grevy's Zebra is Endangered.

  The Quagga is an extinct species of Equine that I will write a post on soon!  However, there is evidence that the Quagga, along with the other Plains Zebras, may not be separate subspecies, but a gradient in populations that have less and less stripes the further south the population.  Quaggas were the least striped of the Plains Zebras and genetic evidence shows little divergence between all of the subspecies.