8/19/2023 0 Comments Zebra with gold stripes![]() ![]() The two factors that mattered most, said Larison, were how consistent the temperature was in a particular area and the average temperature during the coldest part of the year. The team then measured 29 different environmental factors-such as soil moisture, rainfall, prevalence of disease-carrying tsetse flies, and distribution of lions-and plugged them into a computer model to see which ones were related to differences in stripe patterns across the zebra's range. (See pictures of zebras in National Geographic magazine.) (See " Zebra Stripes Evolved to Repel Bloodsuckers?")Ī new analysis of the plains zebra-the most common species, which ranges from Ethiopia to South Africa-doesn't tease out one theory as the definitive winner.īut it does show that temperature is the factor most strongly linked to striping: More specifically, the warmer it is, the more stripes on the zebra.īrenda Larison, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues visited 16 zebra populations throughout Africa and studied their stripe patterns, in a project supported by National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. ![]() There are five main hypotheses for why zebras have the stripes: to repel insects, to provide camouflage through some optical illusion, to confuse predators, to reduce body temperature, or to help the animals recognize each other. This "stripe riddle" has puzzled scientists, including Darwin, for over a century. And standing out would seem to make a zebra more likely to become a lion's lunch. The answer probably comes down to keeping zebras cool and fending off disease-causing insects that are more common in hotter climates, researchers reported Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.Īll three species of zebra have bold black and white stripes that stand out among more drab-looking African grazers, like buffalo and antelope, especially against a plain savanna background. Zebras in warmer places have more stripes, a new study shows, which might help answer an age-old question: Why stripes? ![]() A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but some zebras change their stripes. ![]()
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