Stripes are in. With the number of zebras in the news lately —- two in one month far outpaces the usual zero —- it's almost trendy to spot their black-and-white hides grazing outside Atlanta. First, a young zebra was found stranded and injured on I-75 in Butts County on April 8. Evidence, the name he earned from police, is recovering at Auburn University in Alabama and will become a permanent resident of Noah's Ark rescue and rehabilitation center in Locust Grove. Then there was Barcode, an 800-pound animal who usually lives on a farm across from Oxford College's Newton County campus. He was zebra-napped last week and deposited inside the college's Seney Hall as part of a prank. So what's up with the zebras? It turns out Georgia may have more striped residents than we think.

Illegal pets

It's not legal to keep zebras as pets in Georgia, although people are known to buy them and let them graze on their farms. The Department of Natural Resources must issue a Wild Animal License, but only "to persons engaged in the wholesale or retail wild-animal business or educational exhibits to the public," such as zoos.

Numbers in state

Twelve facilities in the state are licensed by the Department of Natural Resources to keep zebras. Georgia has about 50 licensed zebras, and probably more that are undocumented.

Zoo's popular exhibit

Zoo Atlanta's three zebras are among its most popular exhibits. There's 12-year-old Z, the friendliest and most senior of the herd; 6-year-old Hannah, the supermodel among them at a tall, slender 650 pounds; and Shindah, who came from the same Florida herd as Hannah and enjoys spending time with the waterbucks in their 2-acre habitat.

Carrots are treats

Zebras are native to Africa but can live comfortably in Georgia. Their diets are grass-based. At Zoo Atlanta, they eat a mix of grass and hay. Treats are apples, sweet potatoes and carrots.

Aggressive males

Zebras have "bold" personalities. Males, like Barcode, the zebra found on Oxford College's campus last week, can be especially aggressive. They don't dislike people, but they don't want to be friends, either, says Lisa Smith, Zoo Atlanta's curator of large mammals. "Those few folks that have trained zebras to do things, they found a good animal with a good temperament," Smith says.

Not a horse, of course

They're a cousin of the horse, but zebras aren't meant to be ridden or hand-fed. They like stimulation, though. At Zoo Atlanta, they play nature CDs for them some nights, sprinkle allspice or lavender in their corral or give them toys and "puzzle feeders," which require them to solve a puzzle to get a treat.

Good at hiding

Zebras stripes stick out on the highway or on campus, but they help them hide among tall grasses in Africa, especially from lions, the color-blind predator. "Each zebra has an individual stripe pattern, similar to a person, which has its own unique fingerprint," Smith says.

Animal's lifespan

In the wild, zebras live to be about 15. In captivity, they live to be about 30.