Scientists have unraveled the secret of zebra coloration. You will be surprised
You can forget the zoology classes that taught you about the zebra's camouflage coloration, designed to dissect its silhouette among the bushes and grasses of the savannah. For a century and a half, while the question of the purpose of the stripes of these animals tormented mankind, this was the only more or less logical explanation. But, finally, the real purpose of the “striping” of zebras was found, and this important discovery for mankind was made, of course, by British scientists.
The next leap in world science was made thanks to biologists from the University of Bristol in England. Dissatisfied with the classic camouflage hypothesis, pundits set out to test a lesser-known explanation for the presence of stripes on zebras.
One little-known theory is that the stripes help the animals camouflage themselves from flying insects. It was decided to test this in practice by inquisitive British professors.
For work, biologists needed three Burchell zebras, which are the most common on the Black Continent, and nine ordinary horses, which, for the purity of the experiment, have different colors. All animals were released to pasture, while some horses were provided with blankets, both striped, imitating the coloring of a zebra, and plain.
After that, scientists began to observe the behavior of insects that flocked to animals to taste their blood or continue their race. It turned out that the flying tormentors behaved the same way both near zebras and near horses, but only until it was time to sit on the animal.
This is how one of the participants in the experiment, Dr. Martin Howe, described what he saw. You will laugh, but the observations were carried out for several months, which gave biologists a solid statistical material that excludes errors and inaccuracies. As it turned out, flies, gadflies and other flying pests landed on zebras and horses with striped blankets much less often than on ordinary horses and those that were covered with plain capes.
Scientists have determined that from a distance of 2 meters, the stripes for flying insects are indistinguishable and the animals seem to them just gray. But when approaching, the stripes suddenly became visible and disoriented the gadflies and flies, preventing them from landing accurately. Dr. Martin Howe is confident that his group's research provides an exhaustive answer to a riddle that has occupied zoologists for a century and a half.