{"id":78372,"date":"2025-08-18T09:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T09:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/78372\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T09:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T09:34:09","slug":"the-answer-to-why-zebra-have-stripes-isnt-so-black-and-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/78372\/","title":{"rendered":"The answer to why zebra have stripes isn\u2019t so black and white"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San of the Kalahari know how the zebra got its stripes. Long ago, a stripeless zebra got into an argument with a baboon, who was tending a fire. The zebra got so cross that he kicked the baboon, who landed on his behind \u2014 giving him a raw red bottom. But then the zebra stumbled, fell in the fire, and the burning sticks left stripe marks.<\/p>\n

These days, evolutionary biologists are pretty sure that the San got it wrong. But they aren\u2019t doing much better at providing an alternative explanation. Despite numerous theories, they can\u2019t agree on the actual answer: how did the zebra get its stripes?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go to the moon. We do all sorts of incredible things,\u201d Hamish Ireland, from the University of Edinburgh, said. \u201cBut we still don\u2019t know why zebras are striped. It\u2019s so intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Horse<\/p>\n

A study in 2019 dressed horses in zebra stripes to find if it conferred an advantage to deter biting flies<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t for want of trying. Whenever people see a zebra, it seems they want to know why it is stripey. In only the past decade, some scientists have confidently argued that it is to do with thermoregulation. Black stripes get hotter, and so when layered with white it promotes airflow.<\/p>\n

This, argues Ireland in the journal Biological Reviews, falls down in a few areas. The spacing and distribution of stripes is wrong. The swishing of the tail counteracts it. Having a black stripe that gets warm so you can get cool is also a pretty idiosyncratic approach to thermoregulation.<\/p>\n

Maybe the answer is flies? Others have dressed horses in zebra coats, and shown that biting insects seem to get confused<\/a> \u2014 and not just because it\u2019s a horse in fancy dress. Stripes, they maintain, are for deterring insects.<\/p>\n

This may be an advantage, Ireland concedes, in his review of the state of stripiness science. But is it enough of an advantage to justify walking about in the savannah in front of lions with \u201cmassive great big stripes on you\u201d? \u201cMost of the animals choose to be inconspicuous. If there are lions about, you don\u2019t get worried about being bitten by a fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2018Barcode scan\u2019 can swipe zebra stripes<\/a><\/p>\n

Ah, but what about the others who argue this is missing the point: massive great big stripes are actually an advantage here too. The sharp angular lines are \u201cdazzle camouflage<\/a>\u201d, confusing lions who apparently get so bemused that the zebra just hops away. Evidence for this, though, is scant.<\/p>\n

This theory also falls down on an argument that also undermines all the others. If stripes are so good, for whatever reason, why aren\u2019t they everywhere? \u201cWhy are all the other animals that live in the same environment next to them not striped?\u201d Ireland said. What we need is a theory that explains why stripiness is good for zebras, but not equally so for other animals.<\/p>\n

One idea that Ireland is interested in, is that of signalling. Zebra are different from other animals in that they do not chew the cud \u2014 so have less dietary overlap with them. This means they can form mixed herds with, for instance, wildebeest. Close up, stripes are conspicuous, allowing zebras and these other grazers to spot them and get together in safer herds. From a distance they blur, still allowing some camouflage.<\/p>\n

Maybe that is indeed part of the story. But the truth is, says Ireland, we just don\u2019t have a compelling answer and that is itself fascinating. \u201cThere\u2019s many things in nature that we don\u2019t know. But this isn\u2019t some deep biochemical thing where you need a big lab. You don\u2019t need atomic physics or advanced mathematics. It\u2019s just there in front of you. You can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San of the Kalahari know how the zebra got its stripes. Long ago, a stripeless zebra got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-78372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}