![]() ![]() Instead, researchers have discovered that stripes may have two other purposes: regulation of body temperature and deterring biting flies. Researchers have noted that many other grazing animals in Africa have not developed similar striping to deter predators. Recent studies, however, have cast doubt upon the popular camouflage theory. This illusion may confuse predators, making it difficult for them to pick out a single animal to attack. When a large number of zebras move together, their stripes could appear to be one large animal running. Some biologists also believe the zebra's stripes may be helpful when zebras run in a herd. A zebra's stripes, however, help it blend in with grasses and brush, making it much more difficult to see. A solid-color dark horse standing in light-colored tall grass would be very obvious. Imagine that you can only see black, white and shades of gray. Scientists who study animals - called zoologists - believe that the zebra's pattern is a sort of camouflage that helps it hide from predators. In the wild, the zebra's main predator is the lion, an animal known to be color blind. That might not be the case when it comes to a zebra's predators, however. The zebra's black and white striped pattern could not be more obvious. Whether roaming around the zoo or running across the Serengeti, the zebra is an animal that sticks out. Much like a fingerprint, the stripes on a zebra are unique. These biting flies can carry diseases that are fatal to zebras.Although most people tend to think of the zebra as a white animal with black stripes, scientists have discovered that the zebra is actually a black animal with white stripes. In a study published in 2020 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they found that African horseflies landed less frequently on horses wearing striped or checked rugs than they did on horses wearing solid-colored rugs. This unique pattern may keep away biting flies, according to research by Caro and his colleagues. In other words, for zebras, the animals' default state is to produce black hair, making them black with white stripes, according to Brittanica. The production of melanin from melanocytes is "prevented during the development of a white hair, but not of a black hair," Caro told Live Science in an email. Zebras' black fur is chock-full of melanin, but melanin is absent from white fur, in essence, because the follicles that make up the stripes of white hair have "turned off" melanocytes, meaning they don't churn out pigment. This pigment is known as melanin a lot of melanin leads to darker colors, like dark brown or black, while less melanin leads to lighter colors, such as hazel or blond, Live Science previously reported. These cells produce a pigment that determines the color of hair and skin. Here's why: Every piece of hair - both light and dark - grows from a follicle filled with melanocyte cells, according to a 2005 review in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. In fact, zebras actually have more light-colored hair than dark - their bellies are usually light - so it may seem that zebras are white with black stripes.īut that's not the case. Although zebras have black skin, different developmental processes determine their fur color, just like a light-skinned person can have dark hair, Caro said. And even if you look at the three different zebra species, their skin is always the same color: black (according to Tim Caro, a behavioral and evolutionary ecologist and conservation biologist at the University of California, Davis).īut this still doesn't answer the question of whether their fur is black with white stripes or white with black stripes.įor that, we have to look to the zebra's melanocytes, or the cells that produce pigment for their fur. ![]() Zebra stripes are unique to each individual zebra, reports LiveScience, in an article shared by long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot. ![]()
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