Abstract: This paper analyzed the population characteristics of plains zebra (Equus bruchelli)and the survivorship of 77 foals that were born from 2002 to 2013 in the Dalian Forest Zoo. The results show that,under semi-ranging conditions,the average female first breeds at 4. 59 ±0. 54 years of age and the average male at 4.77 ± 0.73 years old. The population size increases continually and 66.18% of the whole population is of breeding value. Further,85. 7% of zebra foals are born from April to September and no difference is observed in the survivorship between female and male individuals,however, the inter-birth interval following a male foal is significantly longer.

Key words: Age at first successful breeding, Inter-birth interval, Plains zebra (Equus bruchelli), Population structure

关键词: 普通斑马, 首次繁殖年龄, 种群结构, 生育间隔