Zoo database

Zebra

Equus quagga

Natural diet Zebra

Grasses
Herbs

Zebras are herbivorous grazers that mainly consume various types of grasses. Next to this, they also occasionally consume herbs, leaves and some seeds. Their specialized teeth adaptations allows them to break down tough plant-material.

Feeding advice Zebra

Feed quantity per day

1.5-3% of body weight

Sample percentage calculation

If an animal weighs 400 kg and eats 2% of its body weight, it will get

400 x 0.02 = 8 kg feed in total per day

Feed composition

20% Concentrates
80% Grass, lucerne and other roughages

Proportions (fresh product)

0.2 x 8 kg = 1600 g concentrates
0.8 x 8 kg = 6400 g grass, lucerne and other roughages

Diet suggestions

In moderation

Lucerne hay

Not recommended

Fruits

Additional advice

Divide the “Feed quantity per day” over at least two feeding moments per day.
Supplement the diet with ad libitum roughages (read more about browsers and grazers).
Feeding fruits might lead to abnormal fermentation in the hindgut because of high sugar levels (read more about nutritional values of (wild) fruits and vegetables).
It is not recommended to feed the zebras from the ground since they might ingest sand which increases the risk of colic.
Hang or hide the feed (not in sand) to reduce the risk of colic and increase foraging behaviour (read more about feed enrichment and foraging behaviour).

Common diseases

An unbalanced diet may result in one of these more commonly occurring diseases/conditions:

Obesity
Enterolithiasis
Anorexia
Nutritional muscular dystrophy (NMD)
Colic
Laminitis

Feed quantity per day

Sample percentage calculation

Feed composition

Proportions (fresh product)

Grazer pellets

Boskos Grazer

KNZ Mineral-lick Horse

Joerie de With

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