Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

    Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

    The eternal doubt seems to have found a solution, even if the reason for this bizarre color of the coat is not yet clear

    The eternal doubt seems to have found a solution, even if the reason for this bizarre color of the coat is not yet clear





    Each of us, at least once in our life, will have asked ourselves this question: are zebras black or white? The zebras' characteristic black and white striped coloration is unique to each individual - no zebra is alike. There are currently three species of zebras: the common zebra (horse quagga) la mountain zebra (horse zebra) e la imperial zebra (Equus grevyi) - each of these characterized by a precise "pattern" of stripes on the coat. Some have larger portions of black than white, others have dark streaks that tend to brown, still others have stripes only on the body and not on the legs as well. Another sub-species called Equus quagga quagga, now extinct, had very few stripes, located on the head and neck.

    Despite these different colors, all zebras have the same skin color: black. However, this does not answer the main question, which is whether their coat is black with white stripes or vice versa. To try to find a solution, we need to look at the zebra's melanocytes, which are the cells that produce the colored pigments of the coat. In fact, even though zebras all have black skin, different evolutionary processes have resulted in variations in the color of their coats - just as different combinations of skin and hair or eye color occur among humans. In general, zebras have a greater number of white hairs than blacks (think that the belly part is completely white and without stripes). So is it fair to say that these animals are white with black stripes? Not exactly.

    According to a study of a few years ago, in fact, every hair - be it black or white - grows from a follicle full of melanocyte cells, producing a pigment (the melanin) which determines the color of both the skin and the hair: higher quantities of melanin correspond to a darker colored hair (brown or black), while less melanin will give life to a light hair (blond or white). The dark coat of zebras is rich in melanin, which is instead absent in the light coat: in practice, the follicles from which the white hairs start have "turned off" the melanocytes, which no longer produce the coloring pigment. In other words, for zebras, all hairs are originally black, but inhibition of melanocytes causes some of these to come out completely devoid of coloration.



    Now that we have found an answer to the eternal dilemma, it remains to understand why zebras have a striped coat: throughout the history of scientific research, researchers have proposed at least 18 different theories that can explain the reason for this bizarre coat - from the ability to blend in, the ability to protect oneself against predators, a sort of distinctive trait unique to each individual (such as fingerprints for humans). Recent studies have embodied the most popular - namely protection from insect bites e thermoregulation.

    According to a team of British researchers, in fact, the stripes on the coats of animals are more frequent in ecosystems populated by mosquitoes and other biting insects, meaning that this is a defense system against the attack of these animals. Other biologists, on the other hand, advocate the use of strips to regulate body temperature: the black strips would absorb the heat necessary to heat the animals in the coldest hours of the day, while the white ones would reflect the light in the hottest moments.

    In short, much research is still needed to understand the real reason for this interesting phenomenon of nature - but at least we have been able to understand what color the zebras actually are.


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