Sunday, April 29, 2012

How the zebra got its stripes

Zebras stripes have been a big mystery to scientist. Some believe that their stripes make it harder for a predator       to single out 1 zebra in a herd. Experiments have been conducted to see if a horse fly (a zebra pest) was more attracted to black or white. The results were that the horseflies were more attracted to black. Another experiment was conducted with surfaces painted black, white, and black and white stripped. The results of this experiment was that the flies were least attracted to the black and white striped surfaces. One other experiment was conducted with the black and white striped surface varying stripe size . The horse flies were least attracted to the thin stripes as opposed to the thick stripes which means that less flies will be attracted to striped zebras. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/zebra-stripes-may-have-evolved-to-deter-bloodsucking-insects_n_1265160.html

1 comment:

  1. Does this mean that the more stripedy you are, the better you survive as a zebra? Cool!

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