What is the purpose of the bold black and white stripes on a zebra? They don't seem to function as a camouflage in the ordinary sense of making them invisible.
According to David Attenborough's new "Life in Colour" series, the stripes protect them from large carnivorous enemies such as cheetahs or lions, In a fast-running attack, the stripes can create just enough confusion to frustrate the predator, who must make quick decisions on where to sink their claws or teeth.
They're like ordinary dazzle camouflage, but set in motion.
Stripes can also protect zebras from small attackers: flies. Biting flies can be a real menace for zebras on the African plains.
Scientists have learned that the stripes interfere with the ability of flies to land on them. According to New York Times, once the flies get close to the zebra, the stripes "seemed to dazzle the flies so much that they couldn’t manage a controlled landing. Flies zoomed in too fast and either veered off just in time — or simply bumped into the zebra and bounced off."
Scientists have found that the stripes can reduce the number of flies by a factor of four.
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