


Which species is it, and which individual? In either case it should be clear from the signal who the sender of the message is. A male's song may serve to repel a male neighbor, or to attract a female. However, if we want to understand why birds sing, we have to consider that song may have multiple functions. So the next time someone asks you, “What sound does a zebra make?” you can answer, “Well, that’s complicated.To us, bird song may just sound pretty. In contrast, mountain zebras are less vocal than the other two species and emit a high-pitched, submissive call. Grévy’s zebras have two alarm calls, the loud snort described above and an additional quiet “i-hah” vocalization. The three zebra species include the plains zebra that Klingel studied at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Grévy’s zebra found in arid and semiarid environs in East Africa, and the mountain zebra, which makes its home in the rocky uplands of southwestern Africa. Not each of the sounds that zebras make is characteristic of all three extant species of zebra. Frequent loud braying is part of the male zebra’s courtship and dominance display. “Braying advertises territorial status,” says The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Other zebra experts transcribe the bray as “kwahaah” and “oug-ga.” Bray or bark: the contact call made when the animal forces air in and then out to make the sounds “a-ha, a-ha, a-ha” with the first “a” higher in pitch.Wail: a drawn-out cry from a young zebra in distress and.Squeal: a short, high-pitched yelp from male zebras when bitten or hurt.Nicker or whinny: a drawn-out, breathy grunt of satisfaction.Snort: a loud snort when moving into potentially treacherous tall grasses or underbrush that could hide predators.Neigh: a two-syllable alarm call in response to predators.These sounds that zebras make could be described as: When German zoologist and zebra behaviorist Hans Klingel studied plains zebras in Ngorongoro Crater, he recorded six distinctive zebra calls. To be sure, zebras make a variety of sounds and vocalisations. The zebra’s shrill bark sounds a bit wheezy, and consequently, others sometimes equate zebra sounds with hiccupping. The zebra’s high-pitched contact call or bray is so similar to the yapping of little dogs that some experts describe it as a bark. The last of these 4 zebra sounds matches the name – and sound – of the quagga, an extinct species of zebra that was named by the African tribe of Hottentots, being an onomatopoeia of their distinct ‘kwa-ha-ha’ call. “A hyena’s laugh that keeps getting cut off”

Here is what they said when asked what sound does a zebra make: Nichols, Hoofstock Manager at the Out of Africa wildlife park, asked other hoofstock keepers to describe the nearly ineffable zebras sound. Each individual is going to be either higher or lower-pitched, so members of the herd can recognize each other’s distinctive calls.” It’s almost like a mixture between a horse’s whinny and a donkey’s bray. Lauren Nichols of Out of Africa wildlife park in Arizona explains: “Zebras make a variety of sounds, from barking to braying to almost a whinny.”ĭavies served as the Zone Facilities Manager at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington DC for years.Īdmittedly, the zebra, known for its dazzling stripes, does make unusual sounds that are difficult to describe. When asked what sound does a zebra make, Dan Davies of the Smithsonian Institution says
