subject: Zebra Rugs: The Facts In Black And White [print this page] In case you have lived long enough, or perhaps possess a slightly underdeveloped sense of humor, you may have heard zebra jokes.
To wit: "What's black, and white, and red all over?"
Answer: "A sunburned zebra."
Here, for the purposes of this short article, is actually a more updated version.
"What's black or white, and tread throughout?" (Excuse my liberties with tense, but it works better than "trod".)
"A zebra rug."
Since we have the zebra wisecracking out of the way, let's consider zebra rugs as highly recognizable home accessories. First, we'll address the most common zebra rug myth: all zebras, and the rugs produced from their hides, have identical stripes of black and white.
Well, no, definitely not.
Every zebra is a member of one of the three branches of the zebra species. The hide of the regally-named "imperial zebra" has about eighty narrow stripes; that of the mountain zebra has about 55 narrow vertical stripes and three wider horizontal bands along the beyond its hindquarters; and the most typical hide of all, that of the Burchelli zebra, the massive herds which are regularly culled by wild animal management, has twenty-six wide stripes, vertical along its shoulders and transitioning to horizontal along its ribcage and hindquarters. Most natural zebra rugs are produced from the hides of Burchelli zebras.
As to coloration, truly back and white zebras do not exist. Dark zebra stripes cover anything from a golden chestnut to a warm chocolate, while their light stripes are a white to creamy off-white.
And, while it's possible, it's not likely that you'll find natural zebra rugs taken from zebras left unscarred by their life on plains of Africa. If you do, expect to pay for a premium for them. Zebra rug vendors grade the zebra rugs they sell in line with the amount of blemishes and battle scars each one carries, with the least-damaged zebra rugs commanding the highest prices.
Natural zebra rugs, which are usually backed with heavy grade black felt, are truly eye catching pieces of floor covering, and will be stunning inclusions in modern, African, or tropically-themed rooms.
If you love the feel of natural zebra rugs, but are concerned about their expense or concerned about maintaining the wild zebra population, you may still have the enjoyment of decorating with synthetic, or faux, zebra rugs.
Synthetic zebra rugs are certainly not limited to the hide shapes of their natural counterparts; you will find them in rectangles, and runners, of various sizes. Made of low-cost washable carved propylene fibers, they provide the texture of genuine zebra rugs. And they'll give you the true black-and-white color scheme which you can't find in natural zebra rugs.
Or, for individuals who are able to pay extra for zebra rugs which seem like, without being, natural zebra hide, you can find cowhide rugs with white to beige backgrounds which were printed with a zebra-like pattern of black striping and cut to resemble natural zebra skin.
And for those who are just not into black and white, there are faux-fur throw rugs that have zebra stripes ranging in colors from pink and black to royal blue and white; while that's not to confuse these with natural zebra rugs, they do give you a certain flexibility to decorating.
And that's it--zebra rugs, in black and white. Or not.
