Why do zebras have stripes?

Why zebras have stripes story

why do zebras have stripes book

Most of us don't know why do zebras have stripes? New research suggests that the thick black stripes of zebras may have evolved to help these iconic creatures stay cool in the midday African heat.

Many African animals have stripes on their bodies, but none of these patterns contrast as sharply as the zebra.

Why do zebras have stripes flies?

Researchers have struggled a lot to explain the purpose of the zebra's unique black and white stripes. Some people believe that stripes can help zebras camouflage themselves and escape from lions and other predators; avoid the unpleasant bites of disease-carrying flies or control body heat by generating small-scale breezes on the zebra's body when the light and dark stripes heat up at different rates.

why do zebras have black and white stripes

Scientists have found that the definition of stripes along the back of a zebra is most closely correlated with the temperature and precipitation in the environment of a zebra and is not correlated with the prevalence of lions or tsetse flies. In the region. These results suggest that scratches in the torso can do more to help zebras regulate their body temperature than to avoid predators and tsetse flies.

"Well, why zebra only have stripes for predation? Even other animals have predators and they have no stripes. Other animals also need to regulate their body temperature, but zebras can especially benefit from an additional cooling system because they digest food much less efficiently than other grazers in Africa. As such, zebras must spend long periods in the heat of the midday sun, eating more food.


stripes on zebra

Why temperature affects scratching is another question, she said, but there are two possible reasons.

One is the "cooling vortex" theory. When the air touches a zebra, the currents are stronger and faster on the black parts (because black absorbs more heat than white) and more slowly on white. At the junction of these two opposite air flows, small air vortices can swirl and serve to cool the skin of a zebra.

For example, according to Larison, there is evidence that heavily striped zebras have skin temperatures 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) lower than other non-striped mammals in the same area.


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