{"id":18391,"date":"2018-07-16T08:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T08:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/?p=18391"},"modified":"2024-12-10T13:22:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T13:22:57","slug":"stripe-mystery-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/nz\/discover\/animals\/general-animals\/stripe-mystery-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists still stumped by zebra stripes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have debunked a popular theory as to why zebras<\/a> have stripes!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a question that has baffled science for donkey’s years… Why do<\/em> zebras have stripes?<\/p>\n

Until recently, it was widely believed that zebras’ black and white stripes kept them cool<\/strong>. The white stripes were thought to absorb less light<\/strong> and therefore be cooler, while the black stripes would absorb more light<\/strong> and heat up.<\/p>\n

This was thought to create air currents<\/strong> around the zebra that would keep it cool – a useful trick in the hot, African savannah! However, this theory has now been disproven<\/strong> by researchers in Hungary<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To test the theory, the researchers placed barrels of water<\/strong> covered in different colour materials<\/strong> – black, white, grey and zebra-print – in the hot sun, and monitored the temperatures<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To their astonishment, the zebra-print material had an extremely similar temperature to the grey one – proving that the zebra print did not help to lower the temperature<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two main theories still remain; that the contrasting colours help create an optical illusion<\/strong> which confuses predators or<\/em> that the pattern discourages flies<\/strong> from landing on the zebra. Either way, the mystery still remains \u2014 we may never know!<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Joe Peres<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists have debunked a popular theory as to why zebras have stripes! It’s a question that has baffled science for donkey’s years… Why do zebras have stripes? Until recently, it was widely believed that zebras’ black and white stripes kept them cool. The white stripes were thought to absorb less light and therefore be cooler, … Continue reading Scientists still stumped by zebra stripes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63617,"featured_media":18408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[250,1087,2153,226,1165,207,2299,1373],"christmas-category":[],"class_list":["post-18391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-animals","tag-africa","tag-african-animals","tag-animal","tag-animals","tag-experiment","tag-nature","tag-stripes","tag-zebra","countries-australia","countries-ireland","countries-new-zealand","countries-south-africa","countries-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nScientists disprove zebra stripes theory | National Geographic Kids<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists in Hungary have debunked a popular theory as to why zebras have their unique black and white stripes. 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