Burchell's zebras, near Livingstone, Zambia

A relative of the horse family (Equidae) the zebra is a gregarious animal moving in herds of 20 to 100 or more. They often move with wildebeest and occasionally hartebeest or roan. This rather casual symbiosis with other species allows them to pool their defensive alertness and they usually have differing food preferences so grazing is not too competitive. Interestingly, the stripes of a zebra are unique on each animal, like fingerprints. Burchell's zebra, the subspecies found in Luangwa Valley has evenly spaced dark and light stripes as compared to those found in the south and east of Africa having broad light stripes with faint shadow stripes between the thin dark lines. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from January 8, 1947 to end of June 1947.