Editing Zebra (section)

===Reproduction and parenting===
{{See also|Horse breeding}}
[[File:Grévy's Zebra mating.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A pair of Grévy's zebras mating | Captive Grévy's zebras mating]]
Among plains and mountain zebras, the adult females mate only with their harem stallion, while in Grévy's zebras, mating is more [[Polygynandry|polygynandrous]] and the males have larger testes for [[sperm competition]].<ref name="Rubenstein 2010">{{cite book |last=Rubenstein|first= D. I. |year=2010 |url=https://dir.princeton.edu/include/pdf/2010_Rubenstein_ASB_vol42.pdf |contribution=Ecology, social behavior, and conservation in zebras |pages=231–258 |title=Behavioral Ecology of Tropical Animals |editor=Macedo|editor-first= R.|editor2= Wrangham|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0123808943}}</ref><ref name="Ginsberg 1990">{{cite journal |last1=Ginsberg|first1= R|last2= Rubenstein|first2= D. I. |year=1990 |title=Sperm competition and variation in zebra mating behavior |journal=[[Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology]] |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=427–434 |doi=10.1007/BF00170901 |bibcode= 1990BEcoS..26..427G|s2cid= 206771095|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~dir/pdf_dir/1990_Ginsberg&dir_BehEcolSo.pdf}}</ref> Female zebras have five to ten day long oestrous cycles; physical signs include a swollen, everted (inside out) labia and copious flows of urine and mucus. Upon reaching peak oestrous, mares spread-out their legs, lift their tails and open their mouths when in the presence of a male. Males assess the female's reproductive state with a curled lip and bared teeth ([[flehmen response]]) and the female will solicit mating by backing in. Gestation is typically around a year. A few days to a month later, mares can return to oestrus.<ref name="Estes 1991" /> In harem-holding species, oestrus in a female becomes less noticeable to outside males as she gets older, hence competition for older females is virtually nonexistent.<ref name="Grub 1981" />
[[File:Cape Mountain Zebras (Equus zebra) mare and foal suckling ... (31281408687).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Mountain zebra suckling a foal |Mountain zebra suckling a foal]]
Usually, a single foal is born, which is capable of running within an hour of birth.<ref name="MacDonald" /> A newborn zebra will follow anything that moves, so new mothers prevent other mares from approaching their foals as they become more familiar with the mother's striping pattern, smell and voice.<ref name="Churcher 1993" /> At a few weeks old, foals begin to graze, but may continue to nurse for eight to thirteen months.<ref name="MacDonald" /> Living in an arid environment, Grévy's zebras have longer nursing intervals and young only begin to drink water three months after birth.<ref name="Becker 1990">{{cite journal |last1=Becker|first1= C. D.|last2= Ginsberg|first2= J. R.  |year=1990 |title=Mother-infant behaviour of wild Grevy's zebra |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=1111–1118 |doi=10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80177-0|s2cid= 54252836}}</ref>

In plains and mountain zebras, foals are cared for mostly by their mothers, but if threatened by pack-hunting hyenas and dogs, the entire group works together to protect all the young. The group forms a protective front with the foals in the centre, and the stallion will rush at predators that come too close.<ref name="Estes 1991" /> In Grévy's zebras, young stay in "[[Crèche (zoology)|kindergartens]]" when their mothers leave for water. These groups are tended to by the territorial male.<ref name="Becker 1990" /> A stallion may look after a foal in his territory to ensure that the mother stays, though it may not be his.<ref name="Rubenstein 1986"/> By contrast, plains zebra stallions are generally intolerant of foals that are not theirs and may practice [[Infanticide (zoology)|infanticide]] and [[feticide]] via violence to the pregnant mare.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pluháček|first1=J|last2=Bartos|first2=L|year=2005|title=Further evidence for male infanticide and feticide in captive plains zebra, ''Equus burchelli''|journal=Folia Zoologica-Praha|volume=54|issue=3|pages=258–262|url=https://www.ivb.cz/wp-content/uploads/54_258-262.pdf}}</ref>