"Black" Zebra

[Ken Watkins]

In Andreas's recent Zebra thread, in the discussion relating to the colour of Zebra, I mentioned that I thought I had posted an image before of one of Etosha's Black Zebra, it turns out that I did not, so here it is now just for interest.

Taken at Gemsbokvlakte, Etosha, 31st August 2008, in typical Etosha light:w3

EOS 1D MkIIn

28-300mm at 160mm

F7.1, ISO 200, 1/1000, EV-0.33

[Rachel Hollander]

Ken - interesting image. Is this a mutation?

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Pretty neat shot Ken. Never seen, nor heard of one of these. Thanks for posting.

[Morkel Erasmus]

From the thumbnail I thought it was covered in mud. Very interesting - is this a region-specific occurrence, and is it akin to melanism?
:S3:

[Sid Garige]

Never seen one like this before. Excllent find Ken.

[Ken Watkins]

As far as I remember there were certainly more than one of these, there was an article in either Getaway or Go! ( SA travel magazines) around 3 to 4 years ago, this is all I can find.

http://www.republikein.com.na/politiek-en-nasionale/toerisme-en-omgewingsake/mutation-of-zebra-in-etosha-triggers-curiosity.113726.php

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ken
never seen one of these,very nice thank you.Under light conditions you did well with the IQ.

Cheers Andreas

[peter delaney]

The coloration is due to anthrax I believe.

[Ken Watkins]

The coloration is due to anthrax I believe.

That's interesting I have never heard of this before, so I suppose they all die sooner or later?

[Harshad Barve]

Never seen one like this before. Excllent find Ken.

Plus one here
TFS

[Nancy Bell]

I found this hugely interesting and did a Google search. Most reports attribute this coloration to melanism. The anthrax explanation is interesting but I did not find anything on that.
MelanismAt the other end of the scale is another genetic condition that causes an increased production melanin, giving the affected animal a darker appearance. Melanism can be complete as in the case of a black leopard or jaguar or it can be partial with normal black markings appearing much larger or darker than normal. This is the case in some bird species – in southern Africa melanistic gabar goshawks are fairly common.Unlike the previous two colour anomalies, melanism can often be adaptively useful. In areas where leopards live predominantly forest lifestyles, melanism does not reduce camouflage and so it is unsurprising to find that some populations are 50 percent

[Ken Watkins]

Nancy,

Thanks for doing the research,just for information, I did not see any "black" Zebra, during our last visit in June 2011.