March 11. Today we were able to use some of what we learned to do yesterday as we worked on our first zebra census. This involved driving off road through the African bush, surprisingly enough in a Toyota mini-van, looking for zebras and other animals. We divided into two groups and reunited at lunch time to compare what we’d seen. Here is what my group reported:

• 3 Grevy’s Zebras
  
• 6 Plains Zebras
  
• 2 Ostriches
  
• 2 Gerenuks
  
• 2 Bat-Eared Foxes
  
• 2 Grant’s Gazelles
  
• 1 Dikdik
  
• lots of camels
  

Look these animals up to see what they look like! I especially liked the Gerenuks. They look a little like giraffes, but they are actually in the antelope family.

Thanks to those of you at school who had researched zebras, I had no problem telling which ones were Grevy’s zebras and which were Plains zebras. One of the Grevy’s zebras we saw was with 6 Plains zebras which gave us a good chance to compare the two animals. Interestingly, the Plains zebras run away when we approach, but the Grevy’s do not. Maybe this is why lions prefer to eat Grevy’s zebras—they may be easier to catch!