Keepers at Marwell Wildlife are welcoming a new arrival - a zebra foal.

The new male Chapman’s zebra was born several weeks early, but despite the premature arrival it was soon standing and within just a few hours.

Keepers have named the new foal Zeus, and he can now be seen out and about at Marwell with mum, Pheobe. Chapman’s zebras are social animals and are often found living in groups known as ‘harems’.

Consisting of one stallion and several mares and foals, the harems often come together to form vast herds throughout East Africa.

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Zeus’ harem consists of mum Phoebe, dad Josef and two older females, Sophie and Harriet.

Zeus’ parents have already successfully reared seven foals between them, so has the best start in life as his keeper, Mark Humble adds: “Phoebe is an excellent mum and is always keeping a watchful eye over Zeus, making sure he is not getting into any trouble.

Along with all of Zeus’s keepers, I am so pleased that he is fit and healthy, and despite his early appearance he has plenty of energy and is doing really well.

It has been two years since our last Chapman zebra foal was born so it’s great to watch him running around, having fun exploring his new world, and making the most of being the only foal in the group.

As his dad, Josef, was living with the two other females at the same time as Phoebe we are hoping that more foals will be joining Zeus soon.”

The zebra’s distinctive black and white stripes are unique to each individual, although no-one knows for sure what their purpose is.

One theory is that the stripes are a defence mechanism from the zebra’s main predator, lion.

The stripes may help to merge several animals, thus confusing lions and making it difficult to difficult for them to distinguish the outline of an individual from the herd.

Lions are also colour blind and the stripes may provide the perfect camouflage by disguising hiding zebras in long grass.

There are three species of zebra: the Plains, Grevy’s and Mountain zebra.

The Chapman’s zebra is a sub species from the Plains zebra.

Representatives of all three species can be seen at Marwell Wildlife. Of the three, Grevy’s zebra are the most endangered.

Only around 2500 Grevy’s remain in the wild, and Marwell Wildlife is involved in several conservation projects in Kenya to help save the species from extinction.