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Zebras bob their heads at each other to signal cooperation

Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities

By Soumya Sagar

6 May 2024

Zebras seem to communicate by bobbing their heads

Martin Lindsay / Alamy

Zebras bob their heads to attract attention and initiate social interactions such as grooming or moving together. This may be one of the few documented examples of signals that animals use to coordinate their behaviour.

The capacity for multiple animals to focus on shared goals or objects in their environment, known as joint attention, is key to cooperation in humans, but it has rarely been investigated in wild animals.

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