Grévy's zebra

Equus grevyi Oustalet, 1882

Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi), also called the Imperial zebra, is a mammal in the family Equidae and the order Perissodactyla. It is a giant-sized, terrestrial herbivore with a cathemeral activity pattern and an adult body mass of 408 kg.

Photo: Rainbirder · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the grévy's zebra

Gestation lasts 405.7 days (1.1 years), producing one young per litter at a rate of 0.5 litters per year, and sexual maturity comes at 3.8 years. The IUCN Red List classifies Grévy's zebra as Endangered (EN), a threatened category.

Weight: 384 kg – 408 kgsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Lifespan: 27.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 31.2 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: Not recorded
Gestation: 390 days – 406 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch: 1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 3.67 years – 4 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 0.5src for Litters or clutches a year
Active: Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
Lifestyle: Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status: Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

Photos of the grévy's zebra

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi) — Another one of my pictures: This photograph was taken by Medium69 (William… · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the grévy's zebra live?

Not recorded

What is the grévy's zebra?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi), also known commonly as the imperial zebra, is the largest living species of wild equid and the most threatened of the three species of zebras, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Named after French president Jules Grévy, it is found in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. Superficially, Grévy's zebra's physical features can help to identify it from the other zebra species; its overall appearance is slightly closer to that of a mule and donkey, compared to the more "equine" (horse) appearance of the plains and mountain zebras. Compared to other zebra species, Grévy's zebra is the tallest; it has mule-like, larger ears, and has the narrowest stripes of all zebras. It has a distinctively erect mane, and a more slender snout.
Grévy's zebra lives in semi-arid savanna, where it feeds on grasses, legumes, and browse, such as acacia; it can survive up to five days without water. It differs from the other zebra species in that it does not live in a harem, and it maintains few long-lasting social bonds. Stallion territoriality and mother–foal relationships form the basis of the social system of the Grévy's zebra. Despite a handful of zoos and animal parks around the world having had successful captive-breeding programs, in its native home this zebra is listed by the IUCN as endangered. Its population has declined from 15,000 to 2,000 since the 1970s. In 2016, the population was reported to be "stable"; however, as of 2020, the wild numbers are still estimated at only around 2,250 animals, in part due to anthrax outbreaks in eastern Africa.

From the Wikipedia article “Grévy's zebra” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gr%C3%A9vy%27s_zebra&oldid=1383228442), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the grévy's zebra endangered?

The grévy's zebra is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species. What the categories mean.

How is the grévy's zebra classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classMammalia
orderPerissodactyla
familyEquidae
genusEquus
SpeciesEquus grevyi Oustalet, 1882

Synonyms Equus faurei, Equus grevyi berberensis, Eqvus faurei, Eqvus grevyi

Other names and names in other languages (53)

Grevy's zebraEnglish
Grevy's zebraEnglish
Grevy's zebraEnglish
Grevy’s zebraEnglish
Grevy’s zebraEnglish
Grevy’s zebraEnglish
Imperial zebraEnglish
Da-amaAfar
Grevy-sebraAfrikaans
Grevy se KwaggaAfrikaans
Grevy se SebraAfrikaans
Grevy-kwaggaAfrikaans
حمار زرد غريفيArabic
حمارالزرد الامبراطوريArabic
Зебра ГрэвіBelarusian
Grevys zebraDanish
GrevyzebraGerman
Grevy-ZebraGerman
Grevyi-ZebraGerman
Ζέβρα του ΓκρεβίGreek
Grevi-zebroEsperanto
Cebra de GrevySpanish
Cebra de GrévySpanish
Grevi sebraEstonian
KõrbesebraEstonian
isoseepraFinnish
GrevynseepraFinnish
Zèbre de GrévyFrench
GrevyseebraNorthern Frisian
זברת גרביHebrew
Grevijeva zebraCroatian
Uskopruga zebraCroatian
Grévy-zebraHungarian
Zebra di GrévyItalian
Zebra imperialeItalian
グレビーシマウマJapanese
그레비얼룩말Korean
Dykuminis zebrasLithuanian
GrévysebraNorwegian Bokmål
GrévyzebraDutch
Harie DidoOromo
Zebra pręgowanaPolish
Zebra-de-GrévyPortuguese
Zebra-de-grevyPortuguese
Зебра ГревиRussian
Пустынная зебраRussian
zebra GrévyhoSlovak
Punda MiliaSwahili
ม้าลายเกรวีThai
Grevy ZebrasıTurkish
Зебра ҐревіUkrainian
Зебра пустельнаUkrainian
細紋斑馬Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist Wikidata IUCN Red List

Relatives of the grévy's zebra

Other species in the same genus Equus.

Onager

Equus hemionus

Equidae

Plains zebra

Equus quagga

Equidae

Wild horse

Equus ferus

Equidae

Mountain zebra

Equus zebra

Equidae

African wild ass

Equus africanus

Equidae

Kiang

Equus kiang

Equidae

CompareGrévy's zebra vs Onager Grévy's zebra vs Plains zebra Grévy's zebra vs Wild horse Grévy's zebra vs Mountain zebra

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is Grévy's zebra?

Grévy's zebra is a mammal in the family Equidae, within the order Perissodactyla and the genus Equus.

How heavy is Grévy's zebra?

Grévy's zebra has an adult body mass of 408 kg, which places it in the giant size class (adult body mass over 250 kg).

What does Grévy's zebra eat?

Grévy's zebra is a herbivore.

Is Grévy's zebra endangered?

Yes. Grévy's zebra is listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, a threatened category.

How long does Grévy's zebra live?

Grévy's zebra has a lifespan of 27.4 years, with values reported up to 31.2 years.

How many young does Grévy's zebra have?

Grévy's zebra has one young per litter, at a rate of 0.5 litters per year, after a gestation period of 405.7 days (1.1 years).

When does Grévy's zebra reach sexual maturity?

Grévy's zebra reaches sexual maturity at 3.8 years, with reported values from 3.7 to 4.0 years.

Who named Grévy's zebra?

Grévy's zebra, Equus grevyi, was named by Oustalet in 1882.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/grevys-zebra

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BibTeX

@misc{grevys_zebra_2026,
  title = {Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/grevys-zebra},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}