Horseflies misjudge landings on zebra patterns, compared with solid gray or black surfaces, which provides evidence for why evolution came up with the black-and-white pattern. Everyone loves zebras.

The function of zebra stripes have been debated for quite some time. The different hypotheses include: Camouflage — However, predators seemed to find them just fine in all tested settings. Temperature ...

How did the zebra get its stripes? The fashionable patterned coat protects the animal from horsefly bites by disorienting the flies during the landing process, research has shown. But how exactly do ...

Zebras' thick, black stripes may have evolved to help these iconic creatures stay cool in the midday African heat, a new study suggests. Many African animals sport some stripes on their bodies, but ...

A zebra foal named Tira drew immediate attention in Kenya’s Maasai Mara when he showed up with white spots instead of stripes. The pattern isn’t a trick of the light or a research tag—it’s a rare ...

Research suggests zebras may use stripes for temperature regulation. This is an Inside Science story. (Inside Science) -- A gangrene-inducing bite in Africa, 40 years of curiosity, and backyard ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Sara Tabin is a science contributor writing about animals. Scientists aren’t sure, but one theory, dubbed the “motion dazzle ...

A couple years ago, I shared an elegant study about the reasons that zebras are striped (more here). In short, that study found that horseflies (tabanids) and the deadly diseases they transmit were ...

Translation of: Le coup de la girafe : des savants dans la savane. Originally published in French: Paris : Éd. du Seuil, 2015. Contents Part I: Evolution in its guises. The female hyena's penis ; The ...