What's The Habits Of Zbra?

zebras

In the wild, plains zebras (equus burchelli) can walk approximately 40 km per day, which provides natural wear to their hooves. In captivity, however, animals are limited by the size of their enclosure and must rely on substrate for hoof maintenance. Exacerbating the problem, the diet provided in zoos is typically of a much higher quality than wild forage, which can lead to overweight animals and has been surmised to contribute to hoof overgrowth.
At the Three Ring Ranch, a small sanctuary in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, three resident plains zebra are housed in a 1350 m2 enclosure. The enclosure substrate, like most of Hawaii, contains several large outcroppings of textured lava. During the creation of the enclosures, it was decided Oreo, a senior mare, whose hooves have never been trimmed. to leave these higher outcrops so that the animals would have elevated lookout points as enrichment. As a side benefit, we discovered that by walking on the rough lava outcroppings, all of the zebra self-maintained their hooves.
The facility layout is made up of two bedroom areas and a larger pasture space. Within the bedroom area for the two younger zebras is a large lava ridge that the mares walk around and over, often standing on it to sunbathe (see photo below). After the zebras exit the bedroom enclosures, they walk or trot over another flat lava shelf to get to the outer pasture. The entire pasture has green areas divided by small hills and ridges, which provide additional natural hoof maintenance.
For years, modern zoos have worked to provide a natural environment for their animals, avoiding the use of concrete; instead using natural substrate and planted areas. However, those surfaces do not provide adequate abrasion for the zebra hoof. An alternative solution to manual hoof trimming under anesthesia, based on the experiences here at the Three Ring Ranch, is to create low cost, low maintenance hoof filing platforms.
These raised platforms could be constructed of rock or dyed, roughened concrete, upon which various objects could be placed to encourage the zebras to frequent them.
These platforms can be as simple or as elaborate as the individual facility chooses. They can be made to resemble natural habitats or left as an inexpensive, functional pad. Objects placed on them might include salt/mineral blocks, water, scratching posts, feed, or hanging browse dispensers (such as a hay net rotating on a pole). An elaborate scratching post can be created by reinforced concrete sculpted to mimic a termite nest. A cement model of a termite nest (Hediger) has been in daily use in the Zurich Zoo since 1955 due to the zebras’ enthusiasm in using it for grooming. This false termite mound could also be used as a trace mineral block dispensing station to further encourage the animals’ regular visits to the platform.
The addition of concrete to an enclosure contradicts many zookeepers’ idea of a natural environment. Yet, the benefit to the animals’ health should outweigh the aesthetic element. Also, the use of educational materials outside of the enclosure would be helpful in educating the public about the important service these surfaces provide. By placing these hoof maintenance stations on either side of the enclosure, the animals will be encouraged to ambulate more, increasing activity level and visitor enjoyment while also decreasing the risk of obesity.