Some African predators like striped hyena and aardwolf have high contrast stripes that camouflage them to the environment (they would be extinct if the stripes didn't help them to camouflage). There are also some herbivores like bongo (a species of antelope), okapi, and Barbary striped grass mouse, that have similarily high contrast stripes, probably for the same reason. I would be surprised if the origin of zebra's stripes doesn't have something to do with camouflage.
Lions and hyenas predate during the night with the help of rod cells. Rod cells do not perceive color (only differences in light) so I guess it doesn't matter if zebra's stripes are not brown if lions and hyenas are their major predators.
Well it's better than a optical illusion theory or biting flies. The stripes are generally the same on all of them with small amounts of randomness. The pattern is the key to finding out what there really used for. There number one predator has no problem seeing or smelling them so that's out.
During night the sky is black. The grass in the savannah is almost white. So wouldn't zebra's stripes be the perfect camouflage against nocturnal predators?
verkle We've missed your scintillating and thought provoking insights into the natural world.
Must be nice to be content to say "god did it" when asked the answer to any question you can't or don't want to answer, saves all that tiresome learning and thinking the rest of us do.
I agree with the Camouflage theory. It is a combination of special kind of Camouflage combined with the effect of the strips on the Mirage. At a long distance in the heat of Africa these black strips has different optical effect on the Mirage. This require a serious study on the science of optics.
Maggnus
Jan 14, 2015