A recent study suggests that zebra stripes are not necessarily used for camouflage, contrary to popular belief. The study conducted by scientists from the University of Calgary and UC Davis revealed that zebra stripes cannot help the animal conceal itself in the wild.
Lead author of the study, Amanda Melin from the University of Calgary, said that the basis for concluding that zebras' stripes are camouflage is based on human perception.
"The most longstanding hypothesis for zebra striping is crypsis, or camouflaging, but until now the question has always been framed through human eyes," Melin said, according to a press release.
"We, instead, carried out a series of calculations through which we were able to estimate the distances at which lions and spotted hyenas, as well as zebras, can see zebra stripes under daylight, twilight, or during a moonless night," she noted.
The study determined that predators such as lions and hyenas can detect zebra stripes from 56 to 34 meters away, but also found out that zebra stripes can provide camouflage as they get nearer to their predator. Despite this ability, the predator most likely would have smelled their prey or can hear them breathing already, according to the study published on PLOS One, "Zebra Stripes through the Eyes of Their Predators, Zebras, and Humans."
Tim Caro of UC Davis, one of the study's authors, said that this study ends the long-term belief that zebra stripes work against predators.
"The results from this new study provide no support at all for the idea that the zebra's stripes provide some type of anti-predator camouflaging effect," Caro said, according to the Voice of America. "Instead, we reject this long-standing hypothesis that was debated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace."
