Zebras have stripes to deter the tsetse and other blood-sucking flies, according to a fresh bid to settle a debate that has raged among biologists for more than 140 years.
Since the 1870s, in a dispute sparked by the founders of evolutionary theory Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, scientists have squabbled over how the zebra got its trademark look.
Are its stripes for camouflage, protecting the zebra with a “motion dazzle confusion effect” against hyenas, lions and other predators in the savannah? Do the stripes radiate heat to keep the zebra cool? Or do they have a social role — for group identity, perhaps, or mating?
Photo: AFP
However, a new study, published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, says the strongest likelihood is that the stripes discourage parasitic flies.
The finding was intriguingly thrown up by lab experiments in 2012 that found blood-feeding flies shun stripey surfaces and prefer instead to land on uniform colors.
Researchers led by Tim Caro of the University of California at Davis, say there is no black-and-white answer to the “Great Stripe Riddle” — but the insect theory is by far the best bet.
“A solution to the riddle of zebra stripes, discussed by Wallace and Darwin, is at hand,” they write.
The team found a strong geographical overlap between zebras and the two groups of biting flies, Tabanus and Glossina, that feed on equid species, which explains why zebras would need a shield against this pest.
Researchers find comparatively little blood from zebras in tsetse flies, even though the zebra has a thin coat with hair strands that are shorter and finer than those of giraffes and antelopes.
The correlation between reduced biting-fly nuisance and stripes is “significant,” the study says.
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