Click Download PDF for the non-interactive skills sheet. In 2014, Caro and his colleagues showed that striped horses—three zebra species and the African wild ass with thin stripes on its legs—tend to live in regions with lots of horseflies. Instead, they landed on the uncovered head of the horse which didn’t have any stripes. The point of zebras’ stripes has been the subject of much discussion. MARTIN HOW: Doesn't really make sense, though. But Caro’s findings show that the stripes are an adaptation that helps keep the flies away. PROTECTIVE PATTERN? CHANG: You see, he says stripes might create an illusion that, to a fly's eyes, looks something like a rotating barbershop pole, and that confuses them.

By watching and filming the stable’s horses and zebras, the team confirmed that horseflies were much worse at alighting on the latter. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. Erica McAlister, curator of flies at the Natural History Museum in London, says female flies can be quite tenacious. These outfits allowed Caro to observe how the horseflies reacted to the different colors and patterns. Scientists have been puzzling over the role of zebra stripes for more than 150 years. “You get a quarter as many landings,” Caro said. Luckily for the zebra, the hungry fly doesn’t land on it. HOW: Our new findings suggest that zebras could equally be checkered. FADEL: But How's team had a different idea after observing horses and captive zebras on a farm in the U.K. Scientists have mostly concentrated on the theory that zebras’ stripes keep them cool in the sun… If you were a scientist, what type of scientist would you be and why? Nearby, a horsefly is buzzing around looking for food too. But most zebras don’t catch these diseases. They look so conspicuous. But a recent study showed that water drums cloaked in zebra pelts heat up just as much as those covered in normal horse skins.

Copyright © 2020 NPR. For one, they’re highly susceptible to a variety of fatal diseases, including trypanosomiasis, African horse sickness, and equine influenza, that are spread by horseflies and tsetse flies. Caro followed these steps of the scientific … Cloaked in stripes, the very same animals suddenly became more resistant to flies, except on their uncovered heads. Some researchers have suggested that the stripes act as camouflage—they break up zebras’ outlines or resemble fields of tree trunks. So these are mothers hell-bent on getting a proper start in life for all these eggs you see. But that can’t be true: Amanda Melin of the University of Calgary recently showed that lions and hyenas can’t even make out the stripes unless they get very close. All Rights Reserved. Some guessed the patterns distract predators, allowing zebras to escape attacks. Caro’s team is now planning to test this hypothesis, and others.

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