Image: flickr/catlovers
The striking patterns of zebra stripes have puzzled evolutionary biologists for a long time. And there are a number of hypotheses out there for why zebras have evolved their signature stripes, from allowing them to hide in grass or visually confusing predators (dazzle camouflage) to helping reduce biting by insects. Here, scientists test the idea that zebra stripes actually help with cooling: "This hypothesis is based on the idea that black and white stripes would heat up differentially, thus causing differential airflow between black and white stripes and creating eddies of air that would have a cooling effect. This mechanism should work most effectively on strong, contrasting stripes, so we would predict good coverage with bold black and white striping to occur in areas in which zebra are regularly exposed to higher temperatures."It turns out that regional temperatures, but not predator populations, can predict the intensity of the ...
