STATUS

Where Grevy’s Zebra Are Found

Grevy's zebra are confined to the Horn of Africa, specifically Ethiopia and Kenya. The species has undergone one of the most substantial reductions of range of any African mammal. Historically, they were found more widely across the Horn of Africa including Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia. There was also a reported sighting in southern Sudan but this needs verification.

Global Numbers

Grevy’s zebra are in crisis and numbers have declined rapidly. Towards the end of the 1970s, the global population of Grevy's zebra was estimated to be approximately 15,000 animals; present-day guess-estimates are between 1,964 and 2,445 animals representing an 84-87% decline in global numbers over the past three decades.

Kenya Numbers

The last comprehensive survey of Grevy’s zebra in Kenya was undertaken in the year 2000, resulting in an estimated national population of 2,571 (± 136). At a recent workshop, information contributed by many different stakeholders across the range of Grevy’s zebra resulted in guess-estimates of between 1,838 and 2,319. A national aerial survey for Kenya to be carried out later this year will help substantiate the most recent figures.

Ethiopia Numbers

Estimates for Grevy’s zebra populations in Ethiopia suggest a minimum of a 90% decline throughout the country with an estimated 1,900 animals in 1980; 577 animals in 1995 to 110 in 2003. The most recent update estimated 126 Grevy’s zebra remaining in Ethiopia (Fanuel Kabede, pers. comm. 2007).

Conservation Status

Grevy’s Zebra was listed as Endangered A1a, 2c by the IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group. Grevy’s zebra is also listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) which offers them the highest protection against illegal trading. They are legally protected in Ethiopia and since 1977 have been protected by a hunting ban in Kenya. The Kenyan government is currently revising their conservation status from ‘Game Animal’ under the first schedule, Part II in CAP 376 of the Wildlife (Conservation Management) Act to ‘Protected Animal’.

Threats

The decline in Grevy’s zebra is primarily the result of killing for meat, medicinal purposes or sometimes at random; loss of access to critical resources due to competition with domestic livestock; and an increasing scarcity of these resources as a result of over-exploitation. In addition, there has been a significant, very recent decline in the species in northern Kenya due to disease and drought.