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In the photo: Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga)
There are three species of zebras: Burchell's zebra , Hartmann's or Mountain zebra and the Cape Mountain zebra - also called Bergkwagga in Afrikaans. This is in line with a subspecies, the quagga, which became extinct in the late 19th century – though there is currently a plan (the Quagga Project), that aims to breed zebras that are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back.
Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra
Hartmann's zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae)
Burchell's Zebra group
Particularly the Burchell's sub specie is plentiful throughout Southern Africa. The unique stripes of zebras make them one of the animals most familiar to people. They occur in a variety of habitats, such as grasslands, savannahs, woodlands, thorny scrublands, mountains and coastal hills.
Well documented in the Serengeti (Tanzania)-Masai Mara (Kenya) migration
Fascinating. I've been wondering about the actual reason for the stripe pattern. I knew they were unique to each individual but had never heard about the behavior of the mare that you describe.
Many incorrect assumptions regarding the reason for the stripes are bandied about in foreign media - a popular misconception being that it is to confuse predators. I yet have to see a lioness being confused by that... :-) They get killed every day everywhere.
The stripe pattern is distinctly unique to every zebra - like a human fingerprint. For a full 90 minutes after the birth of a foal the mare shields him from seeing anything else but her body, imprinting every pattern of every part of her body on the foal's brain. After that he will not be confused but will identify her amongst the hundreds of thousands of others in the big Serengeti migrations.