The zebra is one of the coolest animals in South Africa.

It’s got that monochrome style that sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill horse, yet still has a fearsome backfoot kick to keep everyone in line.

Have you ever wondered, though, why the animal is striped? You’re not alone, because the question has baffled zoologists for decades.

The same theories have been circulated – to evade capture by predators, for social reasons, or to keep cool, but there hasn’t been much science to back it up.

Until now, because researchers at the University of Bristol and UC Davis, California, think they have the answer, and they got it by dressing horses up as zebras.

Here’s Forbes:

All 11 species of zebra are subtly different, but what unites these African equids is that they have a two-tone coat that, according to the latest research, helps avoid blood-sucking parasites such as horse flies.

To set-up the experiment, researchers at the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences used video analysis on tabanid horse flies and captive zebras and domestic horses at a livery in North Somerset, UK.

They also dressed horses up in zebra stripes. At a distance, the stripes made no difference. However, when the flies got close to the horses in zebra costumes, and the zebra, they failed to slow down and therefore couldn’t land.

“Horse flies just seem to fly over zebra stripes or bump into them, but this didn’t happen with horses,” said Professor Tim Caro, Honorary Research Fellow from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences. “Consequently, far fewer successful landings were experienced by zebras compared to horses.”

More power to them, and mystery solved.

You can read more about the zebra and its stripes here.

[source:forbes]