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The name "zebra" comes from Italian or Portuguese origins and its ultimate origin is uncertain, possibly coming from Latin meaning "wild horse". Zebras evolved from Old World horses within the last 4 million years. While it was suggested that zebras evolved their stripes more than once, molecular evidence now supports that zebras form a single lineage, with their distinctive stripes evolving to deter predators in open grassland habitats.

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Module 32

The name "zebra" comes from Italian or Portuguese origins and its ultimate origin is uncertain, possibly coming from Latin meaning "wild horse". Zebras evolved from Old World horses within the last 4 million years. While it was suggested that zebras evolved their stripes more than once, molecular evidence now supports that zebras form a single lineage, with their distinctive stripes evolving to deter predators in open grassland habitats.

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RatulKumarMajumdar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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ZEBRA:

Etymology

The name "zebra" in English dates back to c. 1600, from Italian zebra, perhaps from Portuguese,
[2]
which in turn is said to be Congolese (as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary). The Encarta
Dictionary says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps it may come from
Latin equiferus meaning "wild horse"; from equus ("horse") and ferus ("wild, untamed"). The word
was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel, but over the course of the 20th century, the
pronunciation with the short initial vowel became the usual one in the UK and Commonwealth. [3] The
pronunciation with a long initial vowel remains standard in the United States.

Taxonomy and evolution

See also: Evolution of the horse

Zebras

Zebras evolved among the Old World horses within the last 4 million years. It has been suggested
that zebras are polyphyletic and that striped equids evolved more than once. Extensive stripes are
posited to have been of little use to equids that live in low densities in deserts (like asses and some
horses) or ones that live in colder climates with shaggy coats and annual shading (like some
horses).[4] However, molecular evidence supports zebras as a monophyletic lineage.[5][6][7]

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