Zebras

Zebras are the depictions of a variety of striped horse-related animals, specifically those of the subgenus Hippotigris. There are some striped horse relatives, like the African Wild Ass, which have stripes but are not considered zebras. There are others, like the extinct quagga, which were considered to be zebras despite being red and having stripes reestricted to their neck and face. There are three Zebra species living today, Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, and Equus zebra. Equus quagga here is commonly called the Plains zebra, and its extinct relative Equus quagga quagga was the rusty one. The zebra typically found in most media tends to resemble the Plains Zebra the most.
They are popular in American culture. In most early elementary classrooms there will be a skinny alphabet poster that extends horizontally lengthwise across the top side of a wall, with a picture of something that starts with the letter beside it. For Z, zebras are almost always used. Thus, kids are taught about zebras early on, because they start with Z. "Z is for zebra" is a common phrase children are asked to speak when learning the alphabet. 
Along with being close to the letter Z, the zebra has also become a symbol of black and white stripes. This pattern is even called "zebra pattern" (though my mom personal called some variations of it the white tiger pattern, that's not the norm). Many smaller animals are named after it. There are many black-and-white striped bugs, fish, and lizards named after zebras. There's even an article here for it. There are some phrases related to it, like "a zebra without its stripes" or "a zebra cannot change its stripes" or to "earn ones stripes" (which could be interpreted as a zebra or a tiger). These show that to people, a stripe represents a unique aspect of ones character. Stripes are interesting and weird. These are similar to some spot idioms, which represent pretty much the same thing, even if stripes and spots feel different. Zebras are their stripes in popular culture. Where some animals can change their colors and appearences, zebras are more restricted. There are several children's books which depict zebras with rainbow stripes.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56305351-riley-the-rainbow-zebra?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=BPnFvoynXA&rank=1
== Television ==
A zebra is the main character in the movie Madagascar. He longs to leave his tiny exhibit at the New York zoo. After some penguins tell him about their escape plan, he runs too. Through some hijinks, he ends up on Madagascar instead of Kenya.
In My Little Pony, Zecora is a foreigner who lives in the deep, dark scary woods. She is a sort of shamaness, brewing potions, giving advice, and always speaking in rhyme.
Category:Zebras
Category:Equus
Category:African mammals