The first mountain zebra foal is born in at the National Mountain Zebra Park

The Mountain Zebra is an endangered species native to South Western Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.  It is boldly stripped in black and white or brown and white with a white underbelly and no two individuals look alike. There are two subspecies of Mountain Zebra, namely, the Cape Mountain Zebra and Hartmann's Mountain Zebra. These two subspecies used to be a single subspecies of Zebra, but due to pressure from hunting, their ranges have been reduced and two groups of the species developed in isolation to the point that there are now two subspecies. The Mountain Zebra has a dewlap which is a flap of skin that hangs below the lower neck or jaw of many vertebrates. Due to overhunting, the Mountain Zebra population came close to extinction.   In the 1930s only 100 of these animals  remained. This situation was remedied by the establishment of a Mountain Zebra Park near Cradock, Eastern Cape which proved successful.    On 20 March 1953 the first foal was born. This success has continued until today with the Mountain Zebra population now standing at 9 000 mature individuals. Today the surviving natural populations occur in the Cape Mountain Zebra reserve, the Gamka Mountain reserve, and the Kamanassie Mountains. However, this Zebra species is being introduced to many of its former ranges and this act shows promise.