No two zebras have exactly the same stripes. The pattern of a zebra is as unique as your fingerprint. Scientists who study zebra families take photos of their sides to tell who is who — a bit like school photos for zebras.
Scientists are still arguing about why zebras have stripes. One leading idea is that the stripes confuse biting flies, which then choose not to land. Another idea is that the stripes confuse predators when zebras stand together in a herd — they look like one big striped wobble.
Zebras live in small family groups called harems: usually one stallion (the dad), several mares (the mums), and their foals (the children). When the migration is happening, many harems join together into massive herds for safety.
A baby zebra can stand up within 6 minutes of being born and run within an hour. It needs to — predators are everywhere on the open plains. The mother spends the first few days keeping other zebras away from her foal, so the foal learns to recognise her stripes above all others.