Q. Can zebras be domesticated?

A. No, zebras cannot be domesticated. They are unpredictable and are known to attack people. To be domesticated, animals must meet certain criteria. For example they must have a good disposition and be calm enough not to panic under pressure. Zebras' unpredictable nature and tendency to attack preclude them from being good candidates for domestication. For more information about the criteria for domestication see the following web site: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Animal Attraction Fact Sheet: Why were so few animals domesticable?

Right: Man on a tame zebra jumping a fence in East Africa. [between 1890 and 1923] Photographic print, LOT 11356-45 [item], LC-USZ62-40646, (b&w film copy neg.), Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

While attempts at domestication have failed, some individuals have had success training and even hybridizing zebras! Common zebra hybrids: Zorse (horse + zebra) and Zonkey (donkey + zebra). Zebra hybridization has actually been in existence at least a century. One of the pioneers in the field was J.C. Ewart, author of The Penycuik Experiments in 1899.

Right: 1899 photograph of a zebra-horse hybrid, or zorse, from J.C. Ewart's The Penycuik Experiments."Romulus: one year old."
	Left: Eve, a baby zonkey. Photo courtesy of the American Donkey and Mule Society.

Web Resource

• All About Zebra Hybrids - This site from the American Donkey and Mule Society (ADMS) contains information and pictures about zebras and zebra hybrids.
  

• The Animals that Conquered the World - The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Animal Attraction Program 2 contains information about animal domestication.

• Beyond Conditioned-Response by Rick Harper - There is a section on training zebras and zebra hybrids in this paper.
  
  
• The Quagga Project - The Quagga Project Committee is reintroducing the quagga (an extinct zebra) back into South Africa using hybridization techniques.
  

Ewart, J.C. The Penycuik experiment. London, A and C Black, 1899. 177 p.

Hyams, Edward. Animals in the service of man: 10,000 years of domestication. London, Dent, 1972. 209 p.

Mungall, Elizabeth Cary and William J. Sheffield. Exotics on the range: the Texas example. College Station, Texas A&M University Press, 1994. 254 p.

Peel, Lynnette J. and Derek E. Tribe. Domestication, conservation, and the use of animal resources. New York, Elsevier, 1983. 357 p.