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Is the zebra a white animal with black stripes, or a black animal with white stripes? My dictionary says that they have "black or dark-brown stripes on a whitish background." And, zebras sometimes have a light-colored belly with no stripes (usually the belly is striped, too). That would seem to settle the above question, although my encyclopedias mention black (or dark brown) and white stripes, and do not mention any background.
A light-colored belly is not very strong evidence, as many animals, of many colors and species have light-colored bellies. It is not a strong indication of the true color of such animals. So, a zebra may be black with white stripes, and sometimes have a light-colored belly.
Horses, while they are not descended from zebras, are related to zebras. Rarely a horse will have faint stripes. From what I can find, only dark horses, never white horses, sometimes have stripes. So, from that line of evidence, it would seem that the zebra is black with white stripes.