Scientists Dressed Horses Like Zebras To Figure Out Why They Have Stripes (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on Thursday February 21, 2019 @02:44AM from the mad-science dept.

Why do zebras have stripes? From a report: Evolutionary biologists have proposed many possible theories, such as camouflage or vision aids for recognizing individual zebras. But in recent years, pest control has emerged as the leading explanation for zebra stripes. Researchers led by Tim Caro, an evolutionary ecologist at UC Davis, set out to test this idea in the field. The results, published Wednesday in PLOS ONE, reveal that stripes are a powerful deterrent to horse flies, a common nuisance that suck blood and bite flesh. The experiment managed to find the most delightful way to help explain these uniquely patterned coats -- by getting horses to cosplay as zebras.

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The next line of research... by magusxxx · 2019-02-21 03:00 · Score: 1, Funny

Are the black stripes wrongfully profiled by the flies to attack them more often than the white.

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Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
That's how you get skunks by sjbe · 2019-02-21 03:54 · Score: 5, Funny

I think the next step is to see if the same applies to smaller animals. take a cat, paint a white stripe down its back and see what happens...
They've tried that and it results in amorous skunks with bad French accents.
Re:Many theories are out there by Calydor · 2019-02-21 04:36 · Score: 3, Funny

I have here this tiger-repelling rock. You know it works because there are no tigers around.

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