why don't people own zebra's like horses? What's the difference? Why are horse's owned as pets and not zebras?

Question

There is a history of people riding horses, owning horse's, etc. Why discriminate against the zebra? I'm sure zebra's would like to be taken care of. There no different from other horse's except for the fact they have stripes, right? Why didn't we choose to take in the zebra but every other type of horse? Was this so we could see at least one type of horse still in the wild and how it would fare.

Interesting, enlightening answers. Thank you all. I guess there more aggressive and wild. Yikes! I wouldn't want to ride a zebra then. Apparently in Arkansas, they do own zebras tho.

Answer 1

Because zebras are NOT like horses. They look something like them but they aren't domesticated and, according to some sources, can't be. They are unpredictable and will attack. There are species of wild cats that look rather like domestic cats but aren't domestic and are unsuitable as pets.

Check this site for more information:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/zebra.html

Various people have tried to domesticate zebras and occasionally they will cross a zebra with a donkey, but it's difficult. You can read about zeedonks here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonkey

So it's not a matter of leaving zebras wild-- they are wild!

Answer 2

The horse population is much greater than that of the zebra and the vast majority of horses are domesticated. There is really no reason for someone to go out of their way to find and domesticate a zebra unless they REALLY just wanted a zebra. I also think that zebras are smaller and thinner than horses and would be less adept to the tasks required of horses (but don't quote me on that). It mostly comes down to the history of the domesticated horse. If things had gone differently centuries before, then maybe today cowboys would all be riding zebras.

And the part about leaving the zebra just to see how it would do in the wild is pretty ridiculous.

Answer 3

Zebras and horses in a way are similar but have more differences than they do have similarities. Zebras are left as a herd animal because of the areas they naturally house. In the wild Zebras travel as a herd to protect each other. The movement of their different and ever changing stripes helps detour predators and offers them protected. You take that herd dynamic from them and they will become aggressive and deadly. They've learned this behavior from poachers and people invading their natural grazing ground.
Most horses were like this at one point too- and the horses that remain wild or the mustangs often exhibit aggressive behavior. But over years of domestication and encroachment on their land they've learned to adapt and that by getting along with us is the only way to protect them. Every horse displays dominance and aggressiveness to some point. But its because people take the time to domesticate them that they become loving family pets.

Answer 4

Horses have been bred for hundreds of years to be domesticated pets. Zebras, not so much. There are still regular horses in the wild too. The number of zedonks is on the rise, I'm sure we will see purebred zebras as pets before long.

Answer 5

Zebras are actually more closely related to giraffes then they are horses. (They actually evolved from the same animal)

Zebras have never been domesticated, so it would be pretty difficult to start now. Also they are a protected animal, so it would be against the law to remove them from the wild

Answer 6

Attempts have been made to train zebras either for riding or to pull freight draft use. They have better resistance than horses to diseases in Africa. Unfortunately, although their will can easily be broken, they are highly strung. For this reason, zebra-mules or zebroids (crosses between any species of zebra and a horse, pony, donkey or ***) are preferred over pure-bred zebras.

Answer 7

Zebras...first of all...cannot be found all over the world except for in Zoo's. This was particularly true hundreds of years ago when people began domesticating horses. This leads me to my second-of-all: Second of all...Zebras are not domesticated in any sense of the word. It would take hundreds of years (seriously) to truly domesticate zebras. Third of all...zebras are not as cuddly as they seem. They tend to have a pretty shitty disposition, for lack of better words.

Answer 8

I have a friend who is a wildlife rehabilitate and she fostered a zebra I got to interact with it and it was super aggressive. Sometimes it was OK and other times it would attempt to fight. They are not good pets, although she managed to train it to take a rider. (was not fun to ride). Over all as far as pets go Horses=good, Zebras=bad.

Answer 9

Zebras have indeed been trained and ridden like horses on occasion. Zebras are much more difficult to train and are more tempermental, as I understand it, and therefore are not as suitable for riding. People have also bred zorses (zebra stallion x horse mare), which are a bit more suitable for riding.

Answer 10

Zebras are wild and they only species related to equine that people have not been able to domesticate.

All species of horses are domesticated now, except for the Przewalski's horse.