Why do zebras have stripes?

The world is full of wonders and humans in their turn are full of curiosity. Their curiosity now prompts them to answer a question: Why do Zebras have graceful stripes?

Did they paint themselves in that way or are those markings of lashes fallen on them by any cruel Zebra King?

Scientists are ready with the answer as they claim to finally solve one of the most intriguing mysteries of the animal kingdom: how the zebra got its stripes.

At last a team from the University of California came up with a possible answer that says that the zebra’s stripes evolved over time to protect the animals from the unwanted attention of disease-carrying flies, reports The Independent.

Ever since Charles Darwin debated the topic with fellow 19th century biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, biologists have been suggesting possible evolutionary drivers that led to the development of these bold black and white markings.

Tim Caro, a professor of wildlife biology and his team looked at five different hypotheses, including the possibility that the stripes were a form of camouflage, that they confused predators or helped moderate body temperature, or even that they were key to zebras’ social interaction.

Eventually the team concluded that the stripes were a defense against eco-parasites after looking at variations in striping patterns across the seven living species of the equid group (the family of animals that includes horses, donkeys and zebras) and their 20 subspecies – most of which have striping on their body to various degrees.

The results, published on 1 April in the journal Nature Communications, show that the strongest statistical correlation is between species of distinct stripes and areas where parasites are most active, says The Independent.

However, even this explanation does not quite close the case on zebra stripes.

Although biologists are now fairly sure that the markings are there to keep biting flies away, the question remains: why do these insects avoid striped surfaces in the first place?