Hartmann's mountain zebras are adapted to dry, rocky country.
Hartmann's mountain zebras have vertical stripes on the neck and body, horizontal stripes on the rump and an unstriped white belly.
In Namibia’s Pre-Namib, dust-bathing by Hartmann’s mountain zebras creates shallow pits that collect rainwater. Researchers mapped 656 pits between 2014 and 2018 and compared them with nearby reference ground. Pit soils were finer and richer in nutrients; they took in more water and stayed moist longer than the surrounding grassland.
Annual forbs grew more densely in the pits, which also stayed green longer after rain in drone images. Activity density of herbivorous arthropods was slightly higher. Zebras created 341 new pits during the study, and 71 abandoned pits were reactivated. Higher herbivore activity density was accompanied by higher activity densities of omnivorous and predatory arthropods.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Pre-Namib study reports that Hartmann’s mountain zebra rolling pits retain rainwater and create microsites used by plants and arthropods. These small features are relevant alongside broader grassland habitat in arid-land conservation. The evidence concerns one site and subspecies; a current global category, assessment date, and population trend were not confirmed.