The coats made no difference to the way flies attacked the horses’ heads, which were not covered. The scientists discovered that the zebra striped coat seemed to keep horseflies from landing. One coat was white, one was black, and one was striped like a zebra. To test whether it was the pattern or something else that kept the insects from landing, the scientists put different coats on the horses. (Source: Tim Caro, Et al., via PLOS One.) When the horseflies tried to land on the zebras, they often timed the landing wrong, flying past or bumping into the zebra instead of landing gently. The scientists used videos to map the paths taken by the horseflies. They flew past or bumped into the zebra instead of landing gently. When the horseflies tried to land on the zebras, they often timed the landing wrong. They noticed that the flies landed on the horses about four times more often than they landed on the zebras. Then they used the videos to map the paths taken by the horseflies. In one part of the experiment, the scientists filmed three zebras and seven solid-colored horses. Now a group of scientists working in the UK have used a creative experiment to help explain how stripes help zebras – by confusing the insects, making it hard for them to land on zebras in the first place. (Source: kallerna, via Wikimedia Commons.) Besides bothering the animals and feeding off of them, horseflies can carry diseases. Horses and zebras are often attacked by large, blood-sucking insects called horseflies. More recently, most scientists have begun to agree that the stripes help zebras avoid biting insects. Scientists have also wondered if the stripes might help cool the animals down. Camouflage is when something is colored to make it blend in with the things around it. Others thought the stripes might be some kind of camouflage. Some scientists think the stripes might share some information about the zebra with other zebras. (Source: Photo: Paul Maritz/Modified: Pharaoh Hound, via Wikimedia Commons.) A recent study seems to show an unexpected reason – to confuse flies so that it’s hard for them to land. Scientists have long wondered why zebras have stripes. For years, scientists have puzzled over how stripes might help zebras. Usually when an animal has a special feature, that feature helps the animal in some way. Zebras are famous for their strong pattern of black and white stripes.
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