A Blog Dedicated to My Mom

My mom passed away this past January 2025. She loved animals; volunteered at Lincoln Park Zoo, raised dogs (schnauzers), and traveled to Africa on safari on her own in her 60's. I thought of my mom many times when we were on safari. How she would have loved seeing the animals, hearing about our trip and telling me more about her trip.

I thought it would be fun to do a blog in her memory. I remember when we went to Lincoln Park Zoo, we would go to see many of our favorite animals, but then at the end we would have one group left, the hoofed animals. She would always say ' They are so far away and they really don't do anything exciting, let's skip them.' So we rarely went to see the hooved animals. It became a family joke. So on this trip we saw many beautiful hoofed animals. Of course the star was the zebra but there were so many others. So I thought why not do a blog about the hooved animals in honor of my mom, Jaye Carey.

Well as I said the zebra is the star an most famous of the hoofed animals. We saw lots of zebras and have many pictures to share. Interesting fact - zebras aren't as nice as you'd think.

ZEBRA

• Group of zebras called a dazzle

• Black skin with white strips /younger have a brownish color

• Often travel with Wildebeests - Zebras are the ears and and Wildebeests are the smell

• Baby zebras stay with mom for 2 years / mom stays infertile while nursing baby

• Tried to domesticate the zebra, but it was unsuccessful because of weak backbone so you can't ride and they are just plain mean. 

• When Zebras move, they have the dominate female in the front and lowest ranking female in the back. 

• They stand in a group which confuses lions and other predators.  They cannot tell what the mass is because of the strips confusing to predator animals.  

• DO NOT Chew their cud thus VERY gassy - we heard several farting very loud!

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Zebras at our hotel watering hole!

WILDEBEEST

• Group of Wildebeests called a confusion 

• Very social and have a great sense of smell

• Migrate in single line to reduce scent to predators and walk in a common gait to protect the older, younger and sicker members of the heard-confuses predators.   

• Not the brightest animals-memory no longer than 10-15 seconds. They forget why they are running.  Also makes them venerable to predators.

IMPALAS

• Medium sized antelope 

• Have 3 horizontal stripes on rear(looks like a M)

• Female looks like a deer- NO horns / Males have horns-larger and dominant

• Group of Impala is Harem

• Usually 1 large male in the group. The younger males will stay on the  outskirts of the  group-staying close just in case. 

• Length of horns can help you determine the age of the impala. 

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ANTELOPE (Grand  Gazelle)

• Can run up to 50mph

• Has a strip down the back but not as pronounced

• Has a white tail

• Has an “owl face” on rear end

ANTELOPE (Topi)

• Savannah Cowboys - Blue Jeans,Yellow Socks,Black Suspenders - due to coloring

• Topi are in the Maasai Mara and Serengeti 

• They usually stick to themselves on the plains, they have good eyes and ears

• Young can get milk from any mother

• Babies are very brown in color to match the grass. 

• They are the guards - stand on high ground to warn other animals that danger is present.

ANTELOPE (Gerenuk) - Giraffe Gazzelle

• Mainly found in Eastern Kenya outside of Amboseli park

• They eat the acacia trees

• Females do not grown horns / Males have lyre shaped horns-long and rigid

• NEVER drink water-get all they need from the plants they eat

• Fast runner

• About 95,000 -making them near threatened

• Leopards and cheetahs eat them

We saw so many hoofed animals and learned so much! I think my mom would have appreciated them too!

Thanks so much for following!