why do zebra's have black and white stripes or stripes at all?

Answer 1

When a lion sees a group of Zebras together, they cannont tell where one starts and where one stops! This is very good for the young zebras, a favorite prey of the lions, because they cannot single one out.
It has nothing to do with color or with tall grass.

Answer 2

Conceivably the stripes could act as camouflage by breaking up the zebra's outlines but their behaviour does not fit what would be expected from a camouflaged animal. Zebra are noisy and active. They live out in the open and they do not freeze in response to danger. Another suggestion was that the conglomeration of dazzling stripes in a zebra herd would make it difficult for a predator to concentrate on a particular target. Nevertheless lions, spotted hyenas, wild dogs, cheetah and leopard, which have radically different hunting styles, all succesfully capture zebra. So, if there is a dazzle effect, it cannot be very effective. An important pointer to the function of the zebra's stripes is their effect not on predators but on other zebras. Crisp, contrasting stripes are highly visually stimulating and zebras seem to seek out this visual input by approaching each other. Predators make most of their attacks at night and the zebra's manoeuvers have to be carried out in the dark amidst clouds of dust thrown up by their hooves. Under these conditions a pattern of sharp black and white stripes provides the best visibility.

Answer 3

Zebras are black with white stripes and their bellies have a large white blotch for camouflage purposes.These stripes are typically vertical on the head, neck, forequarters, and main body, with horizontal stripes at the rear and on the legs of the animal.
Zoologists believe that the stripes act as a camouflage mechanism. This is accomplished in several ways. First, the vertical striping helps the zebra hide in grass. While seeming absurd at first glance considering that grass is neither white nor black, it is supposed to be effective against the zebra's main predator, the lion, which is color blind. Theoretically a zebra standing still in tall grass may not be noticed at all by a lion. Additionally, since zebras are herd animals, the stripes may help to confuse predators — a number of zebras standing or moving close together may appear as one large animal, making it more difficult for the lion to pick out any single zebra to attack. A herd of zebras scattering to avoid a predator will also represent to that predator a confused mass of vertical stripes travelling in multiple directions making it difficult for the predator to track an individual visually as it separates from its herdmates, although biologists have never observed lions appearing confused by zebra stripes.
Closeup of a zebraStripes are also believed to play a role in social interactions, with slight variations of the pattern allowing the animals to distinguish between individuals.
A more recent theory, supported by experiment, posits that the disruptive coloration is also an effective means of confusing the visual system of the blood-sucking tsetse fly. Alternative theories include that the stripes coincide with fat patterning beneath the skin, serving as a thermoregulatory mechanism for the zebra, and that wounds sustained disrupt the striping pattern to clearly indicate the fitness of the animal to potential mates. Another theory could be that the stripes are used by zebras to indentify each other, since each stripe pattern is as unique as a human fingerprint.
African bushmen of Guinea refer to these stripes in their native Madango as "sukuku" which means "lightning" and plays an important role in the customs of the eastern region of Kankan. In ancient beliefs it was thought zebras were sent by the spirit of lightning and rain to remind people that time changes, good seasons of abundant fertility might turn out to be droughts, that giving life may take another's life away, that black cannot exist without white

Answer 4

It a form of camouflage. When a predator sees a group of zebras all those stripes run together and it doesn't know where one zebra starts and the other begins.

Answer 5

Supposedly, they evolved them as a survival tactic - camoflage.
A zebra in long grass is really difficult to spot, even for animals with very good eyesight, because the stripes blend right in, regardless of not being the same colour as the grass.