No one could possibly deny the fact that zebras are without an atom of doubt, one of the most stunning and exotic horse species yet existing, but there are quite some questions which still still haunt a lot of idle minds, but let's consider just the following two:
Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
What is the purpose of having such a peculiar pattern on their bodies?
If your mind has been idle on this for a while or you've been searching through for answer on this for a while, well look no further, because researchers have finally landed on the answer.
And the Answer is…?!
Way back in the Medieval era, a good number of persons were of the belief that zebras had white bodies with black stripes. The proof of this their hypothesis was derived from the fact that their underbellies were white in colour. However, results of recent studies has adjudged otherwise. Zebras actually have black skin with white stripes!. The embryos if zebras are completely black. Appearance of the white stripe occurs during the last stage of the embryonic process.
How is the Striping Pattern Formed?
The striping pattern formed is basically due to selective pigmentation. As afore-mentioned, zebra posses embryos which are completely black and the white stripes appear at the last stage of the embryonic process. Melanocyte skin cells are responsible for the production of pigments which give color to the fur of the zebra. Some certain chemical messengers would determine which of the melanocytes deliver their pigment to the zebra.
The hypothesis which says that zebras are black with white stripes makes sense, as the pattern is a result of pigment activation (black) and inhibition (white). This means that black is the actual color of the fur, and the white patches are simply the areas that have little or no pigmentation. The fact that the skin under a zebra’s fur is black further supports this conclusion.
So what's the Purpose of these Stripes?
- For camouflage
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The stripes of a zebra actually work as a sort of camouflage, used to deter its main predators which are the lions and hyenas. Zebras basically herd together, this gives experts the belief that the mass of stripes could easily get the predators confused, by way of acting as an optical illusion which blends their figures together. Thus a herd of zebras could successfully create an optical illusion of a giant mass, by doing so, they deter any predators from taking on the herd alone.
- Regulating body temperature
Zebras spend a lot of time grazing on open plains, this ultimately means that they have to copy with the intense African heat for a very long amount of time. While zebras with less visible torso stripes are popularly found in the Southern cooler regions of the range while the ones with the most visible torso stripes live generally in the Northern, equatorial region of their range. This geographic distribution supports the stripes usage as heat regulating-tools.
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