There are many mammals that have stripes or spots in their fur,

and this is for many different reasons.

A baby deer has spots on her back to help her blend in

with the sun-spotted forest floor.

This keeps her safe from predators when her mother is away finding food.

A tiger, on the other hand, has long stripes that mimic the tall grasses of Africa,

so he can sneak up on his prey without being seen.

Some animals have skin that is colored in the same pattern

as their fur, but zebras are not one of them.

They have solid black skin under all those stripes! 

Research suggests that the stripes on zebras have a few different purposes.

The repeating black & white pattern confuses flies and other biting insects,

making it difficult for them to find a place to land on the zebra.

A herd of zebras moving together tend ot blend in with each other,

creating what looks like a giant mass of stripes.

This makes it difficult for a lion or other

large predator to pick out one animal to attack.

A Zebra’s stripes might even help them regulate their

body heat by generating small-scale breezes over its body when

light and dark stripes heat up at different rates.

Kind of makes you wish YOU had stripes, doesn’t it?

No?

Just me, I guess.