His research and that of Horvath and others indicates the stripes could deter insects from landing. It included two live zebras, a stallion and a mare, as well as a zebra hide draped over a clothes-horse as a control. No actual zebras were involved. Wild Grant’s zebras in Laikipia District, Kenya. It turns out that it's not what color a zebra’s stripes are, it's what they do with them that counts. Zebras live in parts of the world that have the most horseflies that carry disease. Tim Caro, a biologist at the University of California, Davis, believes it has to do with the zebra’s stripes. He designed a plan to find out. The stripes on zebras have been found to repel flies. No one-word answers. Some guessed the patterns distract predators, allowing zebras to escape attacks. The function of stripes in zebras has been discussed among biologists since at … “This reduced ability to land on the zebra’s coat may be due to stripes disrupting* the visual system of the horseflies during their final moments of approach,” Dr How said. Check. Use full sentences to explain your thinking. “But not enough people ask, ‘Why?’”. And thus an experiment was born. However, he doesn’t think the article advances our understanding of the principal evolutionary drivers of these stripe patterns in the animals. The research didn’t come without casualties -- Stephen Cobb got bit by a territorial male stallion, and his wound later turned to gangrene. Does it make sense to you? “This indicates that stripes may disrupt* the flies’ abilities to have a controlled landing.”. HOW: Maybe they're striving to generate convection currents on the skins and make them sort of cool down in that - in the hot weather. Nearby, a horsefly is buzzing around looking for food too. A new study answers a question people have long asked themselves about the animal kingdom: Why do zebras have stripes? Lead author Alison Cobb grooming a wild zebra in the Animal Orphanage at Nairobi National Park in... [+] 1991. Other scientists argue the main reason for stripes is to deter biting insects. Scientists have mostly concentrated on the theory that zebras’ stripes keep them cool in the sun… Why do zebras have stripes? The latter got hotter than the former by as much as 16°C/29°F. horse flies got closer to the zebras, they failed to slow down, so couldn't land. If you want to try guessing the answer, stop reading now. In a second experiment, horses were dressed in different colored cloth coats: black, white and zebra-striped livery. However, when the horse flies got closer to the zebras, they failed to slow down, so couldn't land. “In the many years we spent living in Africa, we were always struck by how much time zebras spent grazing in the blazing heat of the day and felt the stripes might be helping them to control their temperature in some way.”, “The solution to the zebra’s heat-balance challenge is cleverer, more complex and beautiful than we’d imagined.”. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. And thats why zebras have black stripes. Without direct access to research animals, she enlisted the help of her three daughters, aged 8, 9 and 10. “We’re absolutely sure that it’s about thwarting biting flies,” Caro said, adding that tsetse and horseflies that pester the zebras in Africa can carry deadly diseases like African horse sickness, equine influenza and a form of horse sleeping sickness called nagana. These outfits allowed Caro to observe how the horseflies reacted to the different colors and patterns. FADEL: And repelling biting flies is no easy feat. Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine. The point of zebras’ stripes has been the subject of much discussion. The previously unrecorded ability of zebras to erect their black stripes was discovered by comparing the temperatures of living zebras to a zebra's hide. © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. Still. She made them wear rugby shirts she sewed with zebra stripes and had her “experimental animals” crawl around on their hands and knees in the sun in England. They are now in their early 60s,” Cobb said. New research suggests the black-and-white beasts evolved* their unique* coat to help protect them from blood-sucking flies in Africa. FADEL: But How's team had a different idea after observing horses and captive zebras on a farm in the U.K. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Why is the sky blue? 2. Albino zebras have been recorded in the forests of Mount Kenya, with the dark stripes being blonde. The mystery of why zebras have their characteristic stripes has perplexed researchers for over a century. Luckily for the zebra, the hungry fly doesn’t land on it. Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before? Some guessed the patterns distract predators, allowing zebras to escape attacks. They saw that lots of flies were bothering the horses but leaving the zebras alone. I'm an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer writing about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel. FLY FOOD? At a distance, the zebra's stripes made no difference, and the horse flies began circling the zebras and horses alike. Why? Copyright © 2020 NPR. They look so conspicuous. The work appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. FADEL: McAlister says the study makes clear just how little we know about fly perception. The scientists found that far fewer flies landed on zebras than on horses. The research couple believes that these differences in temperature are enough to cause small air eddies. Caro followed these steps of the scientific process to try to solve the mystery. When it comes to explaining why zebras have stripes, it’s best to remember that some issues are not black and white. How scientists used the scientific process to solve one of nature’s mysteries, WOUTERVR/BIGSTOCK; CLOUDPOST/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM. Why do zebras have stripes? It could be about staying cool Research suggests zebras may use stripes for temperature regulation. Why do zebras have stripes? She had also witnessed zebras spending a great deal of time grazing in the hot midday sun -- more than the antelopes which lived in the same area -- and believed the stripes might be helping them deal with the heat. Click the Google Quiz button below to share an interactive version of the "Quick Quiz" with your class. “They still complain about it. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Gabor Horvath, a researcher at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest who has studied zebra stripes, but was not involved in the Cobbs’ research, does not believe that thermoregulation is the primary function of zebra stripes. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. ExtensionThink of three other animals who have patterned coats or bodies and research why they evolved to have that pattern. Martin How of the University of Bristol says there have been quite a few theories - camouflage, for one. “Once horseflies get close to zebras, they tend to fly past or bump into them,” said Professor Tim Caro, a scientist at the University of California. They measured the temperatures of adjacent black and white stripes on various parts of the zebras every 15 minutes throughout the day, as well as taking ambient air temperatures near the animals. © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. However, zebras are also skilled at dealing with horse flies by their behavior. A zebra munches on grass in a field in Africa. the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences used video analysis on tabanid horse flies and captive zebras and domestic horses at a livery in North Somerset, UK. Instead, they landed on the uncovered head of the horse which didn’t have any stripes. Latest comments: this is not real is it. CHANG: But the work does have one huge implication. New research published today in the Journal of Natural History shows stripes may create air flows that give zebras a kind of natural air conditioning system that helps them ward off the blazing sun. September 25, 2020 by . For at least 150 years, scientists have pondered why zebras have stripes. 1. During the experiment, researchers observed zebras running away and tail swishing at a far higher rate than horses, so any horse flies that didn't get slowed down by the stripes were dispatched quickly. She didn’t get the chance to get close to zebras again until her 70th birthday, when she and her husband traveled back to Africa to test her idea on a couple of captive zebras living on private ranches in Kenya in December 2003. All times on this site are AEDT (GMT +11). It's what they do with them that counts. But this still didn’t give her a full explanation: If the white spots were cooler, why did they have black bits at all? Why zebras evolved anti-fly stripes is to avoid horse flies, which in Africa often carry dangerous diseases such as trypanosomiasis and African horse sickness. In fact, since Charles Darwin first espoused his theories about evolution in the nineteenth century, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly why the several species of African equids known as zebras have their distinctive black-and-white striped coats.

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