why black and white.what is this camoflage for?mountains?please help!!!!!!!
2007-01-31 07:34:36 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Lions are their main predator and they can only see in black & white. So it is a form of camoflage.
2007-01-31 07:39:39 · answer #1 · answered by Hipira 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It is not really camoflage to blend into their surroundings. It is meant to confuse a predator. When, for example, a lion approaches, the herd of zebras runs away. All that the lion sees is a blur of black and white as the zebras run together in a herd. It is very difficult for the lion to pick out an individual animal and it's mighty hard to attack when you can define what it is you're attacking.
2007-01-31 07:44:43 · answer #2 · answered by cool_breeze_2444 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Another theory is that the tsetse fly (a carrier of a form of sleeping sickness in animals in areas where zebras are) does not like vertical stripes, and so sleeping sickness is very very rarely found in zebras, while at the same time being quite common in other animals of all one colour. The horizontal stripes on the zebras head appear vertical when it is eating grass (the time when it is most sedentary and most prone to attack).
2007-01-31 08:29:16 · answer #3 · answered by Nick S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some Zoologists say it is to confuse prey. Looks very busy and is very hard to single one out when there are moving stipes everywhere.
Another explanation is air conditioning; The black absorbs heat, the white reflects it and it creates a motion of air between the temperature differential that acts like a subtle breeze just above the sking.
2007-01-31 07:44:16 · answer #4 · answered by GARY G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are stripey so that in the wild when they would be hunted by Lions etc when they all stand together it confuses the animal that is hunting them because they cannot seperate the stripes to individual zebra
2007-01-31 07:44:54 · answer #5 · answered by beki_boo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's for their survival. If a lion looks at a herd of zebra from a distance, they blend together & even more so if they are in tall
grass. How does a lion decide which one to get since they're al-
most invisible?
2007-01-31 08:27:46 · answer #6 · answered by comedycatalyst 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think its something to do with melanin production and the size of the foetus when its instigated. Cellular automata shows how simple initial instructions can lead to complexity.
Confusing the lions is no doubt a bonus.
2007-01-31 10:10:01 · answer #7 · answered by michael h 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's nature way of helping them camoflage against there enemies.
2007-01-31 08:34:37 · answer #8 · answered by zebbie g 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 ideas -
1. they represent the silhouette of trees .
2. The other I saw on a documentary - it's to appear as one confusing mass -so that predators can not single out anyone animal -so it's a distraction rather than used to disguise
2007-01-31 07:44:20 · answer #9 · answered by john ray 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Zebras live in herds and the black and white stripes confuses predators.
So...you could call it camouflage...it is a way of hiding...in a way...kinda of like hiding.
hope this helps:)
2007-01-31 07:59:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋