95-402: † E. capensis E. grevyi † E. koobiforensis † E. mauritanicus † E. oldowayensis E. quagga E. zebra Zebras ( US : / ˈ z iː b r ə z / , UK : / ˈ z ɛ b r ə z , ˈ z iː -/ ) (subgenus Hippotigris ) are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats . There are three living species: Grévy's zebra ( Equus grevyi ),
190-576: A West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident population at this time was generally speaking Common Brittonic —the insular variety of Continental Celtic , which was influenced by the Roman occupation. This group of languages ( Welsh , Cornish , Cumbric ) cohabited alongside English into
285-739: A Blue Table and the various paintings of Mary Fedden and Sidney Nolan . Victor Vasarely depicted zebras as black and white lines and connected in a jigsaw puzzle fashion. Carel Weight 's Escape of the Zebra from the Zoo during an Air Raid was based on a real life incident of a zebra escaping during the bombing of London Zoo and consists of four comic book-like panels. Zebras have lent themselves to products and advertisements, notably for 'Zebra Grate Polish' cleaning supplies by British manufacturer Reckitt and Sons and Japanese pen manufacturer Zebra Co., Ltd. Zebras have been kept in captivity since at least
380-559: A century as Received Pronunciation (RP). However, due to language evolution and changing social trends, some linguists argue that RP is losing prestige or has been replaced by another accent, one that the linguist Geoff Lindsey for instance calls Standard Southern British English. Others suggest that more regionally-oriented standard accents are emerging in England. Even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RP exerts little influence in
475-403: 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. 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. Usually, a single foal is born, which
570-486: A distinct species. Later genetic studies have placed it as the same species as the plains zebra, either a subspecies or just the southernmost population. Molecular evidence supports zebras as a monophyletic lineage . Equus originated in North America and direct paleogenomic sequencing of a 700,000-year-old middle Pleistocene horse metapodial bone from Canada implies a date of 4.07 million years ago (mya) for
665-508: A greater movement, normally [əʊ], [əʉ] or [əɨ]. Dropping a morphological grammatical number , in collective nouns , is stronger in British English than North American English. This is to treat them as plural when once grammatically singular, a perceived natural number prevails, especially when applying to institutional nouns and groups of people. The noun 'police', for example, undergoes this treatment: Police are investigating
760-474: A harem nibble and rake along the neck, shoulder, and back with their teeth and lips. Grooming usually occurs between mothers and foals and between stallions and mares. Grooming establishes social rank and eases aggressive behaviour, although Grévy's zebras generally do not perform social grooming. Among plains and mountain zebras, the adult females mate only with their harem stallion, while in Grévy's zebras, mating
855-500: A harem stallion is healthy, he is not usually challenged. Only unhealthy stallions have their harems taken over, and even then, the new stallion slowly takes over, peacefully displacing the old one. Agonistic behaviour between male Grévy's zebras occurs at the border of their territories. Zebras produce a number of vocalisations and noises. The plains zebra has a distinctive, barking contact call heard as "a- ha , a- ha , a- ha " or "kwa-ha, kaw-ha, ha, ha". The mountain zebra may produce
950-406: A lesser class or social status and often discounted or considered of a low intelligence. Another contribution to the standardisation of British English was the introduction of the printing press to England in the mid-15th century. In doing so, William Caxton enabled a common language and spelling to be dispersed among the entirety of England at a much faster rate. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of
1045-600: A long initial vowel, but over the course of the 20th century the pronunciation with the short initial vowel became the norm in British English . The pronunciation with a long initial vowel remains standard in American English . Zebras are classified in the genus Equus (known as equines) along with horses and asses . These three groups are the only living members of the family Equidae . The plains zebra and mountain zebra were traditionally placed in
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#17327804473531140-659: A process called T-glottalisation . National media, being based in London, have seen the glottal stop spreading more widely than it once was in word endings, not being heard as "no [ʔ] " and bottle of water being heard as "bo [ʔ] le of wa [ʔ] er". It is still stigmatised when used at the beginning and central positions, such as later , while often has all but regained /t/ . Other consonants subject to this usage in Cockney English are p , as in pa [ʔ] er and k as in ba [ʔ] er. In most areas of England and Wales, outside
1235-520: A regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called Received Pronunciation (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and " BBC English" ), that is essentially region-less. It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period. It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners. In
1330-595: A similar sound while the call of Grévy's zebra has been described as "something like a hippo 's grunt combined with a donkey's wheeze". Loud snorting and rough "gasping" in zebras signals alarm. Squealing is usually made when in pain, but can also be heard in friendly interactions. Zebras also communicate with visual displays, and the flexibility of their lips allows them to make complex facial expressions. Visual displays also consist of head, ear, and tail postures. A zebra may signal an intention to kick by dropping back its ears and whipping its tail. Flattened ears, bared teeth and
1425-447: A spade-shaped toe covered in a hard hoof . Their dentition is adapted for grazing ; they have large incisors that clip grass blades and rough molars and premolars well suited for grinding. Males have spade-shaped canines, which can be used as weapons in fighting. The eyes of zebras are at the sides and far up the head, which allows them to look over the tall grass while feeding. Their moderately long, erect ears are movable and can locate
1520-430: A territory offers a female protection from harassment by outside males, as well as access to resources. In all species, excess males gather in bachelor groups . These are typically young males that are not yet ready to establish a harem or territory. With the plains zebra, the oldest males are the most dominant and group membership is stable. Bachelor groups tend to be at the boundaries of herds and during group movements,
1615-701: A variety of habitats such as savannahs , grasslands , woodlands, shrublands , and mountainous areas. Zebras are primarily grazers and can subsist on lower-quality vegetation. They are preyed on mainly by lions , and typically flee when threatened but also bite and kick. Zebra species differ in social behaviour , with plains and mountain zebra living in stable harems consisting of an adult male or stallion , several adult females or mares , and their young or foals ; while Grévy's zebra live alone or in loosely associated herds. In harem-holding species, adult females mate only with their harem stallion, while male Grévy's zebras establish territories which attract females and
1710-500: A waving head may be used as threatening gestures by stallions. Individuals may greet each other by rubbing and sniffing and then mutually rub their cheeks, and move along their bodies towards each other's genitals to sniff. They then may caress their shoulders against each other and lay their heads on one another. This greeting usually occurs between harem or territorial males or among bachelor males playing. Plains and mountain zebras strengthen their social bonds with grooming . Members of
1805-401: A week without water but will drink it every day when given the chance, and their bodies maintain water better than cattle. Mountain zebras can be found at elevations of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Zebras sleep for seven hours a day, standing up during the day and lying down during the night. They regularly use various objects as rubbing posts and will roll on the ground . A zebra's diet
1900-602: A zebra from Ethiopia in 1620 and Ustad Mansur made a painting of it. In the 1670s, Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes I exported two zebras to the Dutch governor of Jakarta . These animals would eventually be given by the Dutch to the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan. When Queen Charlotte received a zebra as a wedding gift in 1762, the animal became a source of fascination for the people of Britain. Many flocked to see it at its paddock at Buckingham Palace . It soon became
1995-725: Is also due to London-centric influences. Examples of R-dropping are car and sugar , where the R is not pronounced. British dialects differ on the extent of diphthongisation of long vowels, with southern varieties extensively turning them into diphthongs, and with northern dialects normally preserving many of them. As a comparison, North American varieties could be said to be in-between. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are usually preserved, and in several areas also /oː/ and /eː/, as in go and say (unlike other varieties of English, that change them to [oʊ] and [eɪ] respectively). Some areas go as far as not diphthongising medieval /iː/ and /uː/, that give rise to modern /aɪ/ and /aʊ/; that is, for example, in
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#17327804473532090-606: Is capable of running within an hour of birth. 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. At a few weeks old, foals begin to graze, but may continue to nurse for eight to thirteen months. Living in an arid environment, Grévy's zebras have longer nursing intervals and young only begin to drink water three months after birth. In plains and mountain zebras, foals are cared for mostly by their mothers, but if threatened by pack-hunting hyenas and dogs,
2185-795: Is included in style guides issued by various publishers including The Times newspaper, the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press . The Oxford University Press guidelines were originally drafted as a single broadsheet page by Horace Henry Hart, and were at the time (1893) the first guide of their type in English; they were gradually expanded and eventually published, first as Hart's Rules , and in 2002 as part of The Oxford Manual of Style . Comparable in authority and stature to The Chicago Manual of Style for published American English ,
2280-414: Is more promiscuous and the males have larger testes for sperm competition . 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
2375-400: Is mostly grasses and sedges , but they will opportunistically consume bark , leaves, buds, fruits, and roots. Compared to ruminants , zebras have a simpler and less efficient digestive system. Nevertheless, they can subsist on lower-quality vegetation. Zebras may spend 60–80% of their time feeding, depending on the availability of vegetation. The plains zebra is a pioneer grazer, mowing down
2470-399: Is possible that having evolved under pressure from the many large predators of Africa, including early humans, they became more aggressive, thus making domestication more difficult. However, zebras have been trained throughout history. In Rome, zebras are recorded to have pulled chariots during amphitheatre games starting in the reign of Caracalla (198 to 217 AD). In the late 19th century,
2565-547: The Chambers Dictionary , and the Collins Dictionary record actual usage rather than attempting to prescribe it. In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other varieties of English, and neologisms are frequent. For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the ninth century, the form of language spoken in London and
2660-532: The African diaspora , the zebra represented the politics of race and identity, being both black and white. In cultures outside of its range, the zebra has been thought of as a more exotic alternative to the horse; the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle , is depicted riding a zebra and explorer Osa Johnson was photographed riding one. The film Racing Stripes features a captive zebra ostracised from
2755-658: The East Midlands became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education in Britain. The standardisation of British English is thought to be from both dialect levelling and a thought of social superiority. Speaking in the Standard dialect created class distinctions; those who did not speak the standard English would be considered of
2850-576: The English language in England , or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English , Welsh English , and Northern Irish English . Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with]
2945-647: The Giant Cape zebra , is an extinct species of zebra that lived during the Pleistocene of South Africa . E. capensis was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909. E. capensis can be estimated to have grown to about 150 cm (59 in) at the withers and 400 kg (880 lb) in body mass. A 2009 DNA study analyzed several museum specimens identified as Cape zebras and concluded that all specimens tested clustered within
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3040-586: The Roman Empire . In later times, captive zebras have been shipped around the world, often for diplomatic reasons. In 1261, Sultan Baibars of Egypt established an embassy with Alfonso X of Castile and sent a zebra and other exotic animals as gifts. In 1417, a zebra was gifted to the Chinese people by Somalia and displayed before the Yongle Emperor . The fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir received
3135-493: The Royal Spanish Academy with Spanish. Standard British English differs notably in certain vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features from standard American English and certain other standard English varieties around the world. British and American spelling also differ in minor ways. The accent, or pronunciation system, of standard British English, based in southeastern England, has been known for over
3230-490: The Scots language or Scottish Gaelic ). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word though . Following its last major survey of English Dialects (1949–1950),
3325-573: The University of Leeds has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects. The team are sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the BBC , in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout
3420-610: The West Country and other near-by counties of the UK, the consonant R is not pronounced if not followed by a vowel, lengthening the preceding vowel instead. This phenomenon is known as non-rhoticity . In these same areas, a tendency exists to insert an R between a word ending in a vowel and a next word beginning with a vowel. This is called the intrusive R . It could be understood as a merger, in that words that once ended in an R and words that did not are no longer treated differently. This
3515-480: The plains zebra ( E. quagga ), and the mountain zebra ( E. zebra ). Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses , the three groups being the only living members of the family Equidae . Zebra stripes come in different patterns, unique to each individual. Several theories have been proposed for the function of these patterns, with most evidence supporting them as a deterrent for biting flies. Zebras inhabit eastern and southern Africa and can be found in
3610-560: The plains zebra , Equus quagga , with E. q. quagga and E. q. burchelli , rather than belonging to a distinct species. This prehistoric odd-toed ungulate -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . British English British English (abbreviations: BrE , en-GB , and BE ) is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . More narrowly, it can refer specifically to
3705-465: The subgenus Hippotigris (C. H. Smith, 1841) in contrast to the Grévy's zebra which was considered the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus (Heller, 1912). Groves and Bell (2004) placed all three species in the subgenus Hippotigris . A 2013 phylogenetic study found that the plains zebra is more closely related to Grévy's zebras than mountain zebras. The extinct quagga was originally classified as
3800-1474: The 1950s. Protections from South African National Parks allowed the population to rise to 2,600 by the 2010s. Zebras can be found in numerous protected areas. Important areas for Grévy's zebra include Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary and Chelbi Sanctuary in Ethiopia and Buffalo Springs , Samburu and Shaba National Reserves in Kenya . The plains zebra inhabits the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Tsavo and Masai Mara in Kenya, Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, Etosha National Park in Namibia , and Kruger National Park in South Africa . Mountain zebras are protected in Mountain Zebra National Park , Karoo National Park and Goegap Nature Reserve in South Africa as well as Etosha and Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Equus capensis Equus capensis ( E. capensis ),
3895-629: The 21st century. RP, while long established as the standard English accent around the globe due to the spread of the British Empire , is distinct from the standard English pronunciation in some parts of the world; most prominently, RP notably contrasts with standard North American accents. In the 21st century, dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary , the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ,
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3990-836: The English Language (1755) was a large step in the English-language spelling reform , where the purification of language focused on standardising both speech and spelling. By the early 20th century, British authors had produced numerous books intended as guides to English grammar and usage, a few of which achieved sufficient acclaim to have remained in print for long periods and to have been reissued in new editions after some decades. These include, most notably of all, Fowler's Modern English Usage and The Complete Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers . Detailed guidance on many aspects of writing British English for publication
4085-954: The Eurasian Equus ovodovi and the subgenus Sussemionus lineage as closer to zebras than to asses. However, other studies disputed this placement, finding the Sussemionus lineage basal to the zebra+asses group, but suggested that the Sussemionus lineage may have received gene flow from zebras. The cladogram of Equus below is based on Vilstrup and colleagues (2013) and Jónsson and colleagues (2014): Mountain zebra ( E. zebra ) [REDACTED] Plains zebra ( E. quagga ) [REDACTED] Grévy's zebra ( E. grevyi ) [REDACTED] Kiang ( E. kiang ) [REDACTED] Onager ( E. hemionus ) [REDACTED] African wild ass ( E. africanus ) [REDACTED] Horse ( E. ferus caballus ) [REDACTED] Przewalski's horse ( E. ferus przewalski ) [REDACTED] In addition to
4180-666: The Germanic schwein ) is the animal in the field bred by the occupied Anglo-Saxons and pork (like the French porc ) is the animal at the table eaten by the occupying Normans. Another example is the Anglo-Saxon cu meaning cow, and the French bœuf meaning beef. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Frisian core of English;
4275-922: The Oxford Manual is a fairly exhaustive standard for published British English that writers can turn to in the absence of specific guidance from their publishing house. British English is the basis of, and very similar to, Commonwealth English . Commonwealth English is English as spoken and written in the Commonwealth countries , though often with some local variation. This includes English spoken in Australia , Malta , New Zealand , Nigeria , and South Africa . It also includes South Asian English used in South Asia, in English varieties in Southeast Asia , and in parts of Africa. Canadian English
4370-712: The South East, there are significantly different accents; the Cockney accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney rhyming slang can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand, although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated. Londoners speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. Estuary English has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney. Immigrants to
4465-550: The UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the Inner London Education Authority discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren. Notably Multicultural London English , a sociolect that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, working-class people in multicultural parts of London . Since
4560-640: The United Kingdom , as well as within the countries themselves. The major divisions are normally classified as English English (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into Southern English , West Country , East and West Midlands English and Northern English ), Northern Irish English (in Northern Ireland), Welsh English (not to be confused with the Welsh language ), and Scottish English (not to be confused with
4655-465: The West Scottish accent. Phonological features characteristic of British English revolve around the pronunciation of the letter R, as well as the dental plosive T and some diphthongs specific to this dialect. Once regarded as a Cockney feature, in a number of forms of spoken British English, /t/ has become commonly realised as a glottal stop [ʔ] when it is in the intervocalic position, in
4750-410: The adjective little is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term British English . The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken and so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to
4845-474: The animals are often used to represent the letter 'Z'. Zebra stripe patterns are popularly used for body paintings, dress, furniture and architecture. Zebras have been featured in African art and culture for millennia. They are depicted in rock art in Southern Africa dating from 28,000 to 20,000 years ago, though less often than antelope species like eland . How the zebra got its stripes has been
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#17327804473534940-488: The award of the grant in 2007, Leeds University stated: that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the Black Country , or if he was a Scouser he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a Geordie might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink". Most people in Britain speak with
5035-776: The bachelors follow behind or along the sides. Mountain zebra bachelor groups may also include young females that have left their natal group early, as well as old, former harem males. A territorial Grévy's zebra stallion may allow non-territorial bachelors in their territory, however when a mare in oestrous is present the territorial stallion keeps other stallions at bay. Bachelors prepare for their future harem roles with play fights and greeting/challenge rituals, which make up most of their activities. Fights between males usually occur over mates and involve biting and kicking. In plains zebra, stallions fight each other over recently matured mares to bring into their group and her family stallion will fight off other males trying to abduct her. As long as
5130-777: The big cats. In one study, the maximum speed of a zebra was found to be 50 km/h (31 mph) while a lion was measured at 74 km/h (46 mph). Zebras do not escape lions by speed alone but by sideways turning, especially when the cat is close behind. With smaller predators like hyenas and dogs, zebras may act more aggressively, especially in defense of their young. Zebra species have two basic social structures. Plains and mountain zebras live in stable, closed family groups or harems consisting of one stallion , several mares , and their offspring. These groups have their own home ranges , which overlap, and they tend to be nomadic. Stallions form and expand their harems by recruiting young mares from their natal (birth) harems. The stability of
5225-622: The country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio". When discussing
5320-484: The differences in the striping patterns of the different species. Various abnormalities of the patterns have been documented in plains zebras. In " melanistic " zebras, dark stripes are highly concentrated on the torso but the legs are whiter. "Spotted" individuals have broken up black stripes around the dorsal area. There have even been morphs with white spots on dark backgrounds. Striping abnormalities have been linked to inbreeding . Albino zebras have been recorded in
5415-522: The early 20th century, zebra skins were being used to make rugs and chairs. In the 21st century, zebras may be taken by trophy hunters as zebra skin rugs sell for $ 1,000 to $ 2,000. Trophy hunting was rare among African peoples though the San were known to hunt zebra for meat. The quagga ( E. quagga quagga ) population was hunted by early Dutch settlers and later by Afrikaners to provide meat or for their skins. The skins were traded or used locally. The quagga
5510-583: 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. In Grévy's zebras, young stay in " kindergartens " when their mothers leave for water. These groups are tended to by the territorial male. A stallion may look after a foal in his territory to ensure that the mother stays, though it may not be his. By contrast, plains zebra stallions are generally intolerant of foals that are not theirs and may practice infanticide and feticide via violence to
5605-465: The females that enter them. Grazing and drinking areas tend to be separated in these environments and the most dominant males establish territories near watering holes, which attract females with dependent foals and those who simply want a drink, while less dominant males control territories away from water with more vegetation, and only attract mares without foals. Mares may travel through several territories but remain in one when they have young. Staying in
5700-497: The forests of Mount Kenya , with the dark stripes being blonde. The quagga had brown and white stripes on the head and neck, brown upper parts and a white belly, tail and legs. The function of stripes in zebras has been discussed among biologists since at least the 19th century. Popular hypotheses include the following: Zebras may travel or migrate to wetter areas during the dry season. Plains zebras have been recorded travelling 500 km (310 mi) between Namibia and Botswana,
5795-412: The group remains even when the family stallion is displaced. Plains zebras groups gather into large herds and may create temporarily stable subgroups within a herd, allowing individuals to interact with those outside their group. Females in harems can spend more time feeding, and gain protection both for them and their young. The females have a linear dominance hierarchy with the high-ranking females being
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#17327804473535890-480: The horses and ends up being ridden by a rebellious girl. Zebras have been featured as characters in animated films like Khumba , The Lion King and the Madagascar films and television series such as Zou . Zebras have been popular subjects for abstract , modernist and surrealist artists. Such art includes Christopher Wood 's Zebra and Parachute , Lucian Freud 's The Painter's Room and Quince on
5985-458: The idea of two different morphemes, one that causes the double negation, and one that is used for the point or the verb. Standard English in the United Kingdom, as in other English-speaking nations, is widely enforced in schools and by social norms for formal contexts but not by any singular authority; for instance, there is no institution equivalent to the Académie française with French or
6080-523: The last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like bath or grass (i.e. barth or grarss ). Conversely crass or plastic use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in Leicestershire the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of Corby , five miles (8 km) north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by
6175-518: The later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and with a huge vocabulary . Dialects and accents vary amongst the four countries of
6270-467: The longest land migration of mammals in Africa. When migrating, they appear to rely on some memory of the locations where foraging conditions were best and may predict conditions months after their arrival. Plains zebras are more water-dependent and live in moister environments than other species. They usually can be found 10–12 km (6.2–7.5 mi) from a water source. Grévy's zebras can survive almost
6365-457: The mass internal migration to Northamptonshire in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the Kettering accent, which is a transitional accent between the East Midlands and East Anglian . It is
6460-463: The modern period, but due to their remoteness from the Germanic languages , influence on English was notably limited . However, the degree of influence remains debated, and it has recently been argued that its grammatical influence accounts for the substantial innovations noted between English and the other West Germanic languages. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting
6555-409: The most recent common ancestor of the equines within a range of 4.0 to 4.5 mya. Horses split from asses and zebras around this time and equines colonised Eurasia and Africa around 2.1–3.4 mya. Zebras and asses diverged from each other close to 2 mya. The mountain zebra diverged from the other species around 1.6 mya and the plains and Grévy's zebra split 1.4 mya. A 2017 mitochondrial DNA study placed
6650-675: The mountain zebra as vulnerable and the plains zebra as near-threatened . Grévy's zebra populations are estimated at less than 2,000 mature individuals, but they are stable. Mountain zebras number near 35,000 individuals and their population appears to be increasing. Plains zebra are estimated to number 150,000–250,000 with a decreasing population trend. Human intervention has fragmented zebra ranges and populations. Zebras are threatened by hunting for their hide and meat, and habitat destruction . They also compete with livestock and have their travelling routes obstruct by fences. Civil wars in some countries have also caused declines in zebra populations. By
6745-526: The mountain zebra as vulnerable and the plains zebra as near-threatened . The quagga ( E. quagga quagga ), a type of plains zebra, was driven to extinction in the 19th century. Nevertheless, zebras can be found in numerous protected areas. The English name "zebra" derives from Italian , Spanish or Portuguese . Its origins may lie in the Latin equiferus , meaning "wild horse". Equiferus appears to have entered into Portuguese as ezebro or zebro , which
6840-494: The ones that have lived in the group longest. While traveling, the most dominant females and their offspring lead the group, followed by the next most dominant. The family stallion trails behind. Young of both sexes leave their natal groups as they mature; females are usually herded by outside males to become part of their harems. In the more arid-living Grévy's zebras, adults have more fluid associations and adult males establish large territories , marked by dung piles, and mate with
6935-409: The patterns may be determined at three to five weeks. For each species there is a point in embryonic development where the stripes are perpendicular to the dorsal line and spaced 0.4 mm (0.016 in) apart. However, this happens at three weeks of development for the plains zebra, four weeks for the mountain zebra, and five for Grévy's zebra. The difference in timing is thought to be responsible for
7030-589: The plains and mountain zebra, though it is possible that these are infertile due to the difference in chromosome numbers between the two species. Captive zebras have been bred with horses and donkeys ; these are known as zebroids . A zorse is a cross between a zebra and a horse; a zonkey, between a zebra and a donkey; and a zoni, between a zebra and a pony . Zebroids are often born sterile with dwarfism . As with all wild equines, zebras have barrel-chested bodies with tufted tails, elongated faces and long necks with long, erect manes . Their thin legs are each supported by
7125-575: The plains zebra. E. capensis , known as the Cape zebra, appeared around 2 mya and lived throughout southern and eastern Africa. Non-African equines that may have been basal to zebras include E. sansaniensis of Eurasia (circa 2.5 mya) and E. namadicus (circa 2.5 mya) and E. sivalensis (circa 2.0 mya) of the Indian subcontinent. Fertile hybrids have been reported in the wild between plains and Grévy's zebra. Hybridisation has also been recorded between
7220-520: The pregnant mare. With their distinctive black-and-white stripes, zebras are among the most recognizable mammals. They have been associated with beauty and grace, with naturalist Thomas Pennant describing them in 1781 as "the most elegant of quadrupeds". Zebras have been popular in photography, with some wildlife photographers describing them as the most photogenic animal. They have become staples in children's stories and wildlife-themed art, such as depictions of Noah's Ark . In children's alphabet books ,
7315-407: The sides, from the head to the rump. On the snout they curve toward the nostrils, while the stripes above the front legs split into two branches. On the rump, they develop into species-specific patterns. The stripes on the legs, ears and tail are separate and horizontal. Striping patterns are unique to an individual and heritable. During embryonic development , the stripes appear at eight months, but
7410-433: The source of a sound. Unlike horses, zebras and asses have chestnut callosities present only on their front legs. In contrast to other living equines, zebras have longer front legs than back legs. Diagnostic traits of the zebra skull include: its relatively small size with a straight dorsal outline, protruding eye sockets, narrower rostrum, less conspicuous postorbital bar , separation of the metaconid and metastylid of
7505-581: The species is promiscuous . Zebras communicate with various vocalisations, body postures and facial expressions. Social grooming strengthens social bonds in plains and mountain zebras. Zebras' dazzling stripes make them among the most recognizable mammals. They have been featured in art and stories in Africa and beyond. Historically, they have been highly sought by exotic animal collectors, but unlike horses and donkeys , zebras have never been completely domesticated . The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists Grévy's zebra as endangered ,
7600-401: The spoken language. Globally, countries that are former British colonies or members of the Commonwealth tend to follow British English, as is the case for English used by European Union institutions. In China, both British English and American English are taught. The UK government actively teaches and promotes English around the world and operates in over 200 countries . English is
7695-524: The subject of folk tales , some of which involve it being scorched by fire. The Maasai proverb "a man without culture is like a zebra without stripes" has become popular in Africa. The San people connected zebra stripes with water, rain and lightning, and water spirits were conceived of having these markings. For the Shona people , the zebra is a totem animal and is glorified in a poem as an "iridescent and glittering creature". Its stripes have symbolised
7790-409: The subject of humour and satire, being referred to as "The Queen's Ass", and was the subject of an oil painting by George Stubbs in 1763. The zebra also gained a reputation for being ill-tempered and kicked at visitors. In 1882, Ethiopia sent a zebra to French president Jules Grévy , and the species it belonged to was named in his honour. Attempts to domesticate zebras were largely unsuccessful. It
7885-603: The theft of work tools worth £500 from a van at the Sprucefield park and ride car park in Lisburn. A football team can be treated likewise: Arsenal have lost just one of 20 home Premier League matches against Manchester City. This tendency can be observed in texts produced already in the 19th century. For example, Jane Austen , a British author, writes in Chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice , published in 1813: All
7980-637: The three living species, some fossil zebras and relatives have also been identified. Equus koobiforensis is an early equine basal to zebras found in the Shungura Formation , Ethiopia and the Olduvai Gorge , Tanzania , and dated to around 2.3 mya. E. oldowayensis is identified from remains in Olduvai Gorge dating to 1.8 mya. Fossil skulls of E. mauritanicus from Algeria which date to around 1 mya appears to show affinities with
8075-411: The tooth by a V-shaped canal and rounded enamel wall . Zebras are easily recognised by their bold black-and-white striping patterns. The coat appears to be white with black stripes, as indicated by the belly and legs when unstriped, but the skin is black. Young or foals are born with brown and white coats, and the brown darkens with age. A dorsal line acts as the backbone for vertical stripes along
8170-403: The traditional accent of Newcastle upon Tyne , 'out' will sound as 'oot', and in parts of Scotland and North-West England, 'my' will be pronounced as 'me'. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are diphthongised to [ɪi] and [ʊu] respectively (or, more technically, [ʏʉ], with a raised tongue), so that ee and oo in feed and food are pronounced with a movement. The diphthong [oʊ] is also pronounced with
8265-505: The union of male and female and at the ruined city of Great Zimbabwe , zebra stripes decorate what is believed to be a domba , a school meant to prepare girls for adulthood. In the Shona language , the name madhuve means "woman/women of the zebra totem" and is a name for girls in Zimbabwe . The plains zebra is the national animal of Botswana and zebras have been depicted on stamps during colonial and post-colonial Africa. For people of
8360-461: The upper, less nutritious grass canopy and preparing the way for more specialised grazers like wildebeest , which depend on shorter and more nutritious grasses below. Zebras are preyed on mainly by lions. Leopards , cheetahs , spotted hyenas , brown hyenas and wild dogs pose less of a threat to adults. Biting and kicking are a zebra's defense tactics. When threatened by lions, zebras flee, and when caught they are rarely effective in fighting off
8455-750: The varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, Late West Saxon , eventually came to dominate. The original Old English was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who settled in parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries; the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman . These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it
8550-402: The word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity". Variations exist in formal (both written and spoken) English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective wee is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland, north-east England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally Yorkshire , whereas
8645-568: The world are good and agreeable in your eyes. However, in Chapter 16, the grammatical number is used. The world is blinded by his fortune and consequence. Some dialects of British English use negative concords, also known as double negatives . Rather than changing a word or using a positive, words like nobody, not, nothing, and never would be used in the same sentence. While this does not occur in Standard English, it does occur in non-standard dialects. The double negation follows
8740-587: The zoologist Walter Rothschild trained some zebras to draw a carriage in England, which he drove to Buckingham Palace to demonstrate that it can be done. However, he did not ride on them knowing that they were too small and aggressive. In the early 20th century, German colonial officers in East Africa tried to use zebras for both driving and riding, with limited success. As of 2016–2019, the IUCN Red List of mammals lists Grévy's zebra as endangered ,
8835-422: Was never a truly mixed language in the strictest sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication). The more idiomatic, concrete and descriptive English is, the more it is from Anglo-Saxon origins. The more intellectual and abstract English is, the more it contains Latin and French influences, e.g. swine (like
8930-639: Was originally used for a legendary equine in the wilds of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. In 1591, Italian explorer Filippo Pigafetta recorded "zebra" being used to refer to the African animals by Portuguese visitors to the continent. In ancient times, the zebra was called hippotigris ("horse tiger") by the Greeks and Romans . The word zebra was traditionally pronounced with
9025-522: Was probably vulnerable to extinction due to its restricted range, and because they were easy to find in large groups. The last known wild quagga died in 1878. The last captive quagga, a female in Amsterdam's Natura Artis Magistra zoo, lived there from 9 May 1867 until it died on 12 August 1883. The Cape mountain zebra , a subspecies of mountain zebra, nearly went extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction, with less than 50 individuals left by
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