ZEBRA'S STRIPES

Zebras are considered to be black animals with white stripes. The hair of the black stripes on zebras is longer than the white stripe′s hair. In the wild there have been sightings of black or mostly black animals with splotched white coats. This indicates that near-to-black was a primitive coat color, but now it is a recessive coloration.

The unique stripes on a zebra have many hypothesizes. One, is to provide a camouflage protecting zebras from predators. The stripes break up the outline of their bodies and when zebras are moving quickly, particularly in a group, it is very difficult to make out anyone animal, especially from a lion's lower point of vision.

The second way the stripes may protect zebras is in relation to light and heat. During the hottest part of the day on the African plains heat waves shimmering from the ground deflect their stripes into wavy non-descript images, sometimes even so much so that they literally disappear! Similarly, at dawn and dusk when there is lower light with a grayish cast, the black and white colors b1end together to form a light gray animal with just enough texture to render it undetectib1e on the grassy plains.

It has also been suggested that Zebras recognize each other by their stripe patterns. Zebras end up in the right group at watering holes where more than one zebra group comes to drink and where there are two species that overlap grazing lands.

Telling Zebra's apart is easy. Each specie has it's own distinct design of stripes. Even more specifically each zebra has it's own individual stripe pattern, just like our fingerprints. The best way to quickly identify each type is by their rump patterns.