History Main / ZebrasAreJustStripedHorses

In real life, zebras are considered wild equines, but are not the same as horses found in other parts of the world. You won't see a zebra at a stable or participating in a horse race. Zebras can be tamed, but they're not domesticated like horses or even donkeys.

* Played with in ''Literature/JuliusZebra''. The first book shows a comparison between horses and zebras, and Julius is called a stripy horse in some parts.

* ''Film/Sheena'': The titular heroine rides on a zebra, which was a white horse painted with black stripes.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' gives us the Essossi creatures known as zorses, considered a distinct kind of striped equine with somewhat of the nature of a StubbornMule, but not especially so. Zebras that can be ridden like horses, basically (but they're not really used in heavy draught work). Alternatively, they could be something like a Birchell's zebra that took more after their quagga cousins than any existing zebra subspecies in Real Life.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has the ''Zhevra'', a unicorn-like zebra, which runs wild in the in-game equivalent of African savanna, but can also be seen anywhere else as a mount, once available to any player.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'': The "Pastoral Symphony" sequence features a pair of African centaurs whose equine half is that of a zebra.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'': The "Pastoral Symphony" sequence features a pair of African centaurs whose equine half is that of a zebra.
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A common variant is that zebras make horse-like neighing and whinnying sounds, instead of their own unique vocalization.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''{{Disney/Fantasia}}'': The "Pastoral Symphony" sequence features a pair of African centaurs whose equine half is that of a zebra.

* [[https://thomsonsafaris.com/blog/taming-zebras-domestication-attempts/ Humans have tried to domesticate zebras for centuries.]] While there have been many zebras that were successfully tamed over the years, true domestication has never been achieved. There was a very promising candidate in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga Quagga]], a very distinctive type of zebra with a brown back and incomplete striping, but sadly it was driven extinct. [[WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings If that didn't happen, we probably would have domesticated zebras by now.]]
* Victorian nobleman Walter Rothschild, who clearly had time on his hands, attempted to domesticate zebra foals, creating a team of six that he used to draw his coach.
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* [[https://thomsonsafaris.com/blog/taming-zebras-domestication-attempts/ Humans have tried to domesticate zebras for centuries.]] While there have been many zebras that were successfully tamed over the years, true domestication has never been achieved. There was a very promising candidate in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga Quagga]], a very distinctive type of zebra with a brown back and incomplete striping, but sadly it was driven extinct. [[WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings If that didn't happen, we would probably had domesticated zebras by now.]]

* [[https://thomsonsafaris.com/blog/taming-zebras-domestication-attempts/ Humans have tried to domesticate zebras for centuries.]] While there have been many zebras that were successfully tamed over the years, true domestication has never been achieved.

* Played with, Lampshaded, and subverted in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': One side mission involves finding a zebra belonging to a traveling circus show headed by a moustahioed British man [[GenderBlenderName named Margaret]]. The zebra sounds like a mule (offspring of a jackass and a mare), and worse, [[spoiler:turns out to be really a mule painted as a zebra.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''
** Parodied: In one cartoon, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck lets a baby zebra out of the bag into WesternAnimation/PorkyPig's house. Said zebra foal sounds like a horse for a RuleOfFunny comedic effect.
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013''
** A one point in the episode, "Safari, So Good," the zebras sound like donkeys.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'', Zack says "Zebras don't tame easy" and instead the two ride ostriches to chase after the title character.

* The first ''VideoGame/ZooTycoon'' inverts this trope. For some reason the developers made [[SecretCharacter unicorns]] "bark" like zebras instead of neighing.

This trope is not about a zebra in an InterspeciesRomance with a horse or a zebroid which is a hybrid between a zebra and a horse.

When this trope is in play, a zebra will be seen alongside horses and even acting like them. People may be riding on them too.

* Blitzle and Zebstrika from VideoGame/PokemonBlackandWhite

* [[https://thomsonsafaris.com/blog/taming-zebras-domestication-attempts/ Humans have tried to domesticate zebras for centuries, with mixed success.]]