How did the zebra get his stripes?


	How did the zebra get his stripes?

balthazarus

1-17-2009 5:37 AM

349 views

tags:

animals, biology

balthazarus says:

And to summarize it: "Astonishingly, the functional significance of pelage coloration in most large charismatic black and white mammals that were new to science 150 years ago still remains a mystery."

Add a Comment

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from January 17, 2009

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/073af255-9282-4ec3-bb1a-107dd5b443e0/629D9878-5060-45CD-A647-EC3E9A0626D2/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour" style="font-size: 11px;">www.guardian.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><H1>How did the zebra get his stripes?</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.guardian.co.uk/img/86D0EC64-95E7-4D4C-9BAA-09D8556D9B9B" alt="A zebra at the Frankfurt zoo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour">in many cases scientists know very little for sure about why animals are coloured the way they are.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><P>Even <A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/charles-darwin"></A><A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/charles-darwin">Charles Darwin</A> and the co-discoverer of natural selection <A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2008/jul/07/science.weekly.podcast">Alfred Russel Wallace</A> tussled over the evolutionary reason for the zebra's stripes. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><A href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SwEnVmakCB0C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=zebra+darwin+stripes&source=web&ots=PFd6luOkaB&sig=qP9snnSs3CT3ufu4tTrlX_BF5OQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA125,M1">For Wallace, the patterns helps the animals to blend into the background at dusk</A>:</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><P><A href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SwEnVmakCB0C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=zebra+darwin+stripes&source=web&ots=PFd6luOkaB&sig=qP9snnSs3CT3ufu4tTrlX_BF5OQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA125,M1">Darwin dismissed this notion</A>:</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour"><P>The mystery remains unsolved. Scientists have suggested everything from the stripes setting up cooling convection currents around the body to deterring tsetse flies, but no one has the definitive answer.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour">no one explanation for why black and white animals look the way they do</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/15/wildlife-animalbehaviour">Horizontal black and white bands on, for example skunks and stink badgers are probably a text-book example of warning colouration</blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5" href="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5" style="font-size: 11px;">journals.royalsociety.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5">Aposematism and perhaps conspecific signalling are the most consistent explanations for black and white pelage in mammals</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5">background matching</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5">disruptive coloration</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/07073144785720l8/?p=f79755c052554ee196219c166d598cc7&pi=5">reducing eye glare</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/629D9878-5060-45CD-A647-EC3E9A0626D2/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks: Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!

Clipmarks: Home; New Clips; Top Clips; Dashboard

Popular Topics: News; Life; Science; Technology; Entertainment

Get Started: Sign Up; Install Clipping Tool; How Clipping Works; Clip-to-Blog™; ClipSearch

Tools and Resources: FAQ; ClipWeek; Top Clippers; Top Tags; Site Map

About Clipmarks: About Us; Contact; Copyright; Privacy; EULA

Search Options

Today's Top Clips