Disney’s passionate veterinarians, nutritionists, animal keepers, educators and scientists deliver the absolute best animal care to more than 300 species and 5,000 animals across the resort.
Stripe-tastic news on the savanna! Walt Disney World has announced that a new Hartmann’s mountain zebra foal joined the herd after being born to second-time mom, Juno!
Be on the lookout for mom, baby and her sister, Cricket, out on Kilimanjaro Safaris!
The new zebra foal, is just one of hundreds of baby animals born across Walt Disney World Resort each year.
Last year, The Most Magical Place on Earth welcomed the birth of more than 300 animal residents. From aquatic animals like cuttlefish and an eagle ray pup at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at EPCOT, to terrestrial mammals, including an aardvark and red river hog piglet, to more than 150 birds. These additions are important because they help keep animal populations healthy and ensure their survival.
Zebras are known for their resemblance to horses, but with bold, black-and-white stripes all over their bodies. They have long faces and necks, barrel-shaped chests, strong legs and pointed hooves. No two zebras have the same stripe pattern.
Unlike other zebras, Hartmann's mountain zebras have vertical stripes on their neck and torso and horizontal stripes on their backside. They also have white, non-striped bellies.
Hartmann’s zebras are one of the smaller members of the zebra family, standing at 4 to 5 feet, Males and females are about the same size, and there are few physical differences between them.
Mountain zebras are adapted to live in dry, rocky areas and semi-wooded grasslands. Their range is limited to a few mountainous regions in southwestern Angola and the coastal mountain ranges of Namibia.
Hartmann’s mountain zebras are polygynous, forming breeding herds with one stallion and two to five mares, along with their foals. Mountain zebras are also known to form bachelor herds, in which several young male zebras will travel together until they form their own breeding herd. Females typically reach sexual maturity around 2 to 3 years of age, while males become sexually mature around age 4 or 5.
Mares have a gestation period of about 12 months, after which they give birth to a single foal. After they are first born, foals weigh about 55 pounds, and are capable of standing and walking in just a few hours.
Foals rely on their mothers for protection. They are weaned from their mother’s milk after about 10 months, although they will begin to eat grasses after about 2-3 months. After about fourteen months, foals are usually expelled from the herds; males will typically join a bachelor group, while females will find a bachelor male and pair up to form a new herd.
You can see the new Hartmann’s mountain zebra foal within the herd on your next Kilimanjaro Safari.
With over 100 residents on the safari and representing 30 different species, you can imagine that the entirety of the safari is quite big, and it is indeed. At 110 acres, Kilimanjaro Safaris is big enough to house 83 football fields.
Most importantly, the terrain has been designed to look and feel like their African habitats, so animals feel at home with their natural behaviors and instincts.
The attention to every detail is what has allowed us to welcome threatened and endangered species like the African elephant, the Hartmann’s Mountain zebras, white rhinos and more species in our care!
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