If Zebras' Stripes Aren't For Camouflage, What Are They For?

[PatrickJS]

If Zebras' Stripes Aren't For Camouflage, What Are They For?

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To make matters more confusing, even zebras don't seem to care much for the stripes of their friends. They may be able to tell apart individuals, but all social animals can do that without such garish signals.

It might be of note that none of the research rules out "razzle dazzle" camouflage, wherein the subject isn't hidden from view, but their movements are obfuscated. In World War 1, for example, warships were painted with strange, confusing designs, that made them seem as if they were moving in different directions than they actually were, frustrating torpedo operators.

Possibly, zebras' stripes fulfil the same function - when they run, a predator's eyes have a hard time tracking them. No one can say for sure just yet.

What do you, scientists of The Escapist, think the stripes might be for? Is there an angle no one has looked at yet?

Source: Euraklert [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0145679]


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[DoPo]

Wasn't that known until now? I swear I've read an article on Cracked that mentioned it. Given that last I was reading Cracked regularly was 3-4 years ago, that article must have been at least 3-4 years old.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Razzle-Dazzle makes sense to me. Stationary camouflage though? Never made the slightest lick of sense!
If cats had shitty eyes they'd not have such big, well developed ones and instead would primarily use their other senses for hunting.

Still; ruling something out is ALWAYS good science!
Eventually you are left with the experiment that gives you the answer through exclusion!

 

[Dragonbums]

I watched it in a documentary somewhere but a Zebra's stripes ARE camoflauge. But in a very unconventional way. Their most common predators such as lions can't really see in color at all. Just in black and white. As such the stripes and how they are formatted are meant to be really confusing and disorienting to them. Where as other animals like us- that can see in all colors of the rainbow (for the most part.) see a Zebra and they stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Who says they're for anything? They might have been part of the parcel in some other mutation.

It's a common misunderstanding about evolution that it's a process that moves towards purpose and effectiveness, while it's just a weighted random number generator. Plenty of things, even in our own bodies (the appendix, male nipples, wisdom teeth, the tailbone), that have no purpose whatsoever, but that just happened to have survived. Granted, the zebra stripes might seem like a particularly extravagant example, but that doesn't mean they must have a purpose.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Sex.
Evolution has two uses.
One is survival, the other is reproduction, which leads to the survival of the race.
If it's not the help them survive, it's to help them reproduce.
The strips are a mental aphrodisiac for them.

There, mistery solved. moving on to Gold fish. Are they golden to get humans to buy and feed them? Did science go too far?

 

[Caffiene]

It might be of note that none of the research rules out "razzle dazzle" camouflage, wherein the subject isn't hidden from view, but their movements are obfuscated. In World War 1, for example, warships were painted with strange, confusing designs, that made them seem as if they were moving in different directions than they actually were, frustrating torpedo operators.

Even before I got to this paragraph that was exactly my reaction to the OP claim that standard camouflage is the "prevailing wisdom". ie, "Huh, it is? I thought the current theory was about disguising movement and camoflauging individuals within the herd so predators cant pick out and target specific zebras".

 

[Zacharious-khan]

Wait... is it not so we can scan them and find out how much they cost?

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

I always understood that the prevailing theory wasn't that it prevented the predators from seeing them, but that it prevented the predators easily picking out a single zebra in the group.

Of course, mot biologists will tell you that often times all they can give is a shrug and a best guess for this sort of thing. Evolution is really strange.

 

[Xeorm]

Hmm? Last I heard it was to help with temperature regulation primarily.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Wasn't this already claimed years ago.
I mean they already came up with an alternate hypothesis.
It was Heat Management.
Basically the alternating white and black stripes caused un-even heating, this causes a draft to form lowering temperature.
The study found no relationship between the pattern of zebra stripes and the presence of predators, but found that the hotter the temperature, the more stripes a zebra had.

 

[Saltyk]

I always understood that the prevailing theory wasn't that it prevented the predators from seeing them, but that it prevented the predators easily picking out a single zebra in the group.

Of course, mot biologists will tell you that often times all they can give is a shrug and a best guess for this sort of thing. Evolution is really strange.

That's what I was thinking, too. That the striped patterns makes it difficult for a predator to pick out a single zebra from the herd. Not that it made it difficult for them to pick out a zebra from grass.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I thought it was clear that the stripes were for MAXIMUM SASS

The razzle dazzle and heat regulation ideas make sense though.

 

[psijac]

A baby cheetah looks like a honey badger. Maybe the Zebras are trying to emulate a vicious beast which took a dead end turn on the road of evolution

http://worldsafaris.com/blog/do-baby-cheetahs-mimic-honey-badgers/

 

[King_Julian]

Wait... is it not so we can scan them and find out how much they cost?

lmao......i dont know why but i found that hillarious and i rarely laugh at other peoples jokes on here.

 

[BeerTent]

The real question here is "Is it pronounced, ZEE-brah? Or ZED-brah?"

We need our top men on this.

 

[Kaymish]

I think its to help out predators the stripes highlight the best places to cut and therefore maximise the number of top quality steaks that can be carved out of each zebra
Lions do not have well developed manipulators on their paws so holding a knife is likely difficult and every bit of help they can get is a bonus

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Wasn't this already claimed years ago.
I mean they already came up with an alternate hypothesis.
It was Heat Management.
Basically the alternating white and black stripes caused un-even heating, this causes a draft to form lowering temperature.
The study found no relationship between the pattern of zebra stripes and the presence of predators, but found that the hotter the temperature, the more stripes a zebra had.

This is what I came here to write. As far as I understand, this is the most widespread hypothesis in zoologist circles today.

 

[infohippie]

The real question here is "Is it pronounced, ZEE-brah? Or ZED-brah?"

We need our top men on this.

Neither, it is ZEH-bra.