The surprising reason zebras have stripes - Cella Wright

[@teamraider8663]

I worked in a lab in Taiwan that also had this as the main theory. The idea is that because most insects have compound eyes, the spacing of the patterns serves as a way to mess with the sense of positioning of the zebra relative to the fly, resulting in a lack of decreasing speed in preparation for landing or entirely missing as a whole. The research I did used honey bees (easier to raise and control since we just need sugar water to attract them) but it should be the same for flies in theory. What's also interesting is that there was a certain stripe width needed before it was effective, like just having the stripes isn't enough the pattern needed to have a width less than a certain threshold in order to mess with the honey bee flight behaviors.

[@piusdoe8984]

That is interesting! Wonder if those scientists who did the stripes vs flat color experiment, thought to alter the stripe width

[@debbiej.2168]

Thank you.

[@zeybarur]

That's so interesting! I wonder if the width threshold correlates to the insect's "viewed resolution", so to speak, since compound eyes' vision is more "pixelated" than ours. Maybe the stripe width has to be less than a certain number of pixels, or maybe it's the stripe density that matters more? If the density scales against width? Anyway thank you for this comment!

[@laxaree]

Wow! That is super interesting to know!

[@AncientWildTV]

@@zeybarur Compound eyes are made up of multiple ommatidia, each acting as a separate visual unit. This can result in a "pixelated" vision, where the resolution is limited compared to that of vertebrate eyes. The resolution of compound eyes is often measured by the number of ommatidia per unit area. For an insect to detect stripes or other visual patterns, the width of the stripes might need to be larger than the size of the ommatidia to be perceived distinctly. If the stripe width is smaller than the resolution limit of the compound eye, the stripes might blur together or become indistinguishable.

[@buziek101]

"Wild Asses". I'm almost 40, but this may me chuckle like a teenager :D

[@Robil63]

61.. thinkin' where's Kim Kardashian on that tree?

[@snowyowl10]

Oh I wrote an essay on this in my undergrad. The title was something like "Let's dress up cows like zebras: a novel solution to biting flies"

[@chris_ssj2]

Now that's a witty title!!

[@ichokedonadoritoonce7670]

Love the title!!!

[@heck-r]

Somewhere I heard that some study speculated that it's also a group camouflage, where the point is not for zebras not to be noticed (which would hard with their big herd), but rather for individual zebras not to stand out from the heard. The reason they thought of this is that it was hard to track individual zebra, so they marked one or two with some bright colored ring or something, but to their dismay, the lions seemed to hunt the visually distinguishable zebras very quickly, maybe because there was a more obvious target they could gang up on, increasing the chance of capture. I don't think this ever became more than a hypothesis, and I don't know why such extreme striping would be better than just being consistently grey, but it could be that the high contrast stripes and the extreme color somehow works against how predators normally distinguish prey.

[@normalchannel2185]

Being consistently grey would provide depth information, but stripes basically overload the brain with information, making depth perception harder.

[@duckymomo7935]

That theory hasn’t hold up

[@songyu1356]

Nah, if they are consistently grey and you mark some individuals with bright coloured marking it will likely has the same effect. This theory doesn't hold water. This video had also stated that given the high rate of successful hunts of predators on zebras, it is very likely not the case.

[@salemsaberhagan]

​@@songyu1356the point of the stripes isn't to avoid being hunted altogether. That would be better achieved by overall better camouflage. It's about a group adaptation that confers distributed benefits. The stripes cause enough confusion that predators pick their prey at random rather than single out specific vulnerable individuals because they cannot spot them easily, for example, children. Considering how horses can't survive long with broken legs but deer often can, such an ability for the young & the injured to be relatively hidden would ensure their survival. If it means more children survive in more stripey zebra populations than less stripey ones, the stripey ones will increase in number & then that trait will start to spread by interbreeding.

[@victorAgain00]

​@songyu1356 The stripes make it harder to distinguish between individual zebras. Predators like to home in one a single animal they deem week or old, but with all these irregular stripes crossing paths, it might be difficult to keep track of one.

[@D2attemp]

I never would have thought of that as the answer

[@-_Nuke_-]

Me neither 😂😂😂

[@krista2216]

The fact that the scientists noticed that the flies were sufficiently confused that they weren't decelerating enough! 🤣

[@beatjunkybg]

​​@@krista2216yeah, "crash landings" cracked me up 😂

[@frogglen6350]

When you live in an environment full of lions, painted dogs, hyenas, angry elephants and hippos, nile crocodiles, leopards, and cape Buffalo plus deadly insects, it makes sense that Zebras evolved to be the way they are.

[@-_Nuke_-]

😂 exactly

[@joshuabautch8936]

AND THIS is my justification for Hippos being pure physocapths Any pacifism is suicide when you share a range with them

[@piusdoe8984]

And what is "the way they are" and why only them

[@themoviescriptwriter2513]

I agree, but when you consider the role of diseases in human history deaths being more than any wars or mostly other causes, it makes sense. While the bigger threats mostly seem obvious danger, diseases have a higher determination of the species survivability.

[@Mikee512]

You can tell that it's a zebra because of the way that it is. How neat is that?!

[@tec-jones5445]

Perhaps another piece of evidence comes from the now tragically extinct zebra subspecies: the Quagga. This population lived outside of the range of biting flies in South Africa, where it's too cool/dry for the insects. The quagga is well known for having far fewer stripes than other zebras, being more uniformly brown past the neck, as seen in other temperate equids. If a subspecies population of zebras can seemingly lose their stripes in the absence of flies, this might provide further evidence for the insect repellent hypothesis. Though the animal's extinction makes this harder to verify with much certainty.

[@dangerfly]

So that's the funny looking horse mount in Diablo 4...

[@NisarKhan-jm1uh]

Also Grevys and mountain zebras are found outside of the tsetse flies range and they have less stripping and more narrow stripping than the plains zebra so this theory of zebra stripes act like a protection from biting flies seems the most likely to be true.

[@henderson-i5p]

Zebras sure have a big history! 🦓

[@likeavirshin]

I love the silly face on this animation! They are hilarious

[@sharoncolman]

Thank you! 😊

[@adamm4562]

I was told by a safari guide in Kenya that Zebras striping is for defensive herd camouflage. Lions and other land predators have to be discerning with their exertion of energy and try to get easy prey. So the striping helps defend the young and the weak amongst the herd by blending them into the rest of the herd, making it harder for the predators to keep track of and bear down on a single zebra. Kind of a “can’t see the tree for the forest” phenomenon. That’s always stuck with me because it’s so odd and fascinating

[@phoenixflamegames1]

Oh they are definitely not wrong about that. It is for multiple different reasons. That is just one of the many

[@kaidanalenko5222]

It is debunked if you watch the whole video.

[@irritatin2]

Nothing was debunked. They purposefully use words like 'probably' 'likely/unlikely' 'perhaps' 'seems/doesn't seem like', and clearly state these are all hypothses

[@normalchannel2185]

@@irritatin2 And the hypothesis that was seen unlikely was not the same as OP suggested. OP suggested that the stripes helped HIDE the young and weak, not that they made it harder to see an INDIVIDUAL zebra

[@richardxr-huang]

OP's suggestion is probably just a side effect 😅. Cause if that is so important, why doesn't other horses have it huh? The big difference in their environment is still the disease 🪰.

[@arkoudanthrope]

The animation is spectacular!

[@sharoncolman]

Thank you! 😊

[@evanrosman9226]

The stripes on zebras are a fascinating subject of study.

[@MarkoLEARNS-gv5uo]

no

[@michaelmanyaboy3393]

@@MarkoLEARNS-gv5uobro really thought he was quirky and unique commenting “no” 😭

[@duckymomo7935]

That’s because it’s a rare pattern not found in many parts of nature

[@DanielLCarrier]

So it is to confuse predators. Very small predators.

[@mochaest1994]

this animation was adorable 😊

[@sharoncolman]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@vespertoldme]

YOU MADE ITTTT ! IT'S TOO CUTE ​@@sharoncolman

[@sharoncolman]

@@vespertoldme I was the animator/director. I appreciate your kind words!

[@mochaest1994]

@@sharoncolman subscribed!

[@phoenixflamegames1]

So basically, it doesn’t confuse predators but it does confuse biting flies which is helpful when a lot of biting flies can kill them. So indirectly, it’s still meant as confusion.

[@kimjanek646]

Since I saw some documentary about Bees and how they navigate using patterns, it's easy to imagine why Zebras have stripes 🙂

[@malisha7339]

The animation is so adorable and hilarious, love it! 🥹🥰

[@sharoncolman]

Thank you! 😊

[@wallbrick1]

protection from biting flies, thermoregulation and protection from predators

[@mondayosere596]

This video is hypnotizing.

[@MaunoKoivistoOfficial]

10/10 animation!

[@Kozm0h]

This is why I love zebraaaas!!

[@fivebn]

Thank you for telling us why zebras are stripped

[@pierrecurie]

The natural follow up question is why the flies didn't evolve to not be so easily confused.

[@ericsmith6394]

I wondered this too. I suspect this is just beyond the level of visual processing you can put in fly-size brains, but this answer isn't very satisfying. Jumping spiders and dragonflies have very impressive vision. It's more likely that the flies are stuck in an evolutionary local maximum. Maybe they need 10 changes to beat zebra stripes, but a fly with only 1-2 of those by itself is worse. This would make it very unlikely for any fly to get all the required changes to be the new "best fly" (whatever that is).

That is the Cons of all compound eyes. Unless they change their eyes completely, that problems will still exist.

[@ericsmith6394]

Maybe having better vision means a bigger head? The video says the flies crash into the zebras. Bigger heads would hurt more by being a bigger lever on the neck and more likely to take the blow. Maybe the flies can't evolve a solution because it would require bigger eyes which make crashing worse. If so, any flies taking the first steps toward that solution die out and the population never overcomes the zebra stripes.

[@iftekhar77]

I love Ted Ed videos

[@zyxw2000]

Another informative video from TED-Ed.

[@rollintweeds234]

Brilliant research and surprising findings. I've been laboring under the 'harder to cut an individual from the pack' delusion for years. Thank you, TED-Ed!

[@noeblanchais8149]

Can we talk about the next level of ending phrase this video proposed. I don't know any channel that does that better in general. Please do not stop I value them much ❤

[@Marina-rz4oj]

⚠️ Im not sure how to explain itor if its true, but i think some parts of the video may be harmful for people who have propensity for having seizures

[@ThrillSeeker3524]

Don't forget the extinct subspecies, the Quagga. What a shame it was hunted to extinction...

[@arnoldmbuthia2687]

Who hunted them to extinction?

[@adrianblake8876]

​@@arnoldmbuthia2687 The same one that hunted many other species into extinction: humans.

[@ThrillSeeker3524]

@@arnoldmbuthia2687 European settlers prizing quaggas for hunting trophies

[@UNKnoWN-ti5vk]

+​@@arnoldmbuthia2687 My friend Joe

[@dannyarcher6370]

@@arnoldmbuthia2687 I did.

[@oldcowbb]

makes sense, flies use optical flow to control speed and direction, repeating pattern messes up with the cross correlation across time, makes them lose control over their speed

[@TheMillennialPlantDad]

Urgh I absolutely love this channel . So much information!!

[@himanshusoni528]

Given the ability of insects to evolve in given environmental conditions, it’s surprising how the biting flies did not overcome this problem

[@ollieanntan4478]

Maybe because zebras are only one of the species that bugs feast on. Why evolve for such a small percentage of possible prey?

[@varunapathak2096]

"kicks strong enough to kick a lion." I loved zebras and thought they were really cute, but now I'll be forever afraid to go near one of them.

[@ZeoViolet]

The books I read growing up described the stripes as herd camouflage defense. If you get a bunch of running zebras, it is suddenly very hard to single out any one from the rest, when they look like a wall of dizzying stripes moving at once. It is the stragglers that are caught.

[@cristianflorestamayo9079]

this videos are always so educative, not only for teaching... i watch this when I eat something at any time. the longer the video, the more I lear and longer I take eating anything . hahaha

[@omaryjuma_]

animation is so fascinating, and that country shown on that map is my country Tanzania!😊🇹🇿

[@sharoncolman]

Thank you! 😊

[@caterinagargiulo]

This is interesting to learn about

[@gailaltschwager7377]

Thank you!

[@chitarah]

I used to call them prison horses because of their stripes! Lol!

[@akiasami2844]

love ur vids

[@StarLightShadows]

So in other words, their patterns give seizures to biting flies. Humerous.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Looks like you can’t judge a zedbra by its stripes

[@DigitalMarketingService-mm1on]

Interesting video 😊

[@steveknight878]

This theory - that it deters biting flies - was the explanation given while I was an undergrad at Liverpool Uni in 1968.

[@MrsJudithWright]

Interesting. Packed with information.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

I think it's primary function is to confuse predators as the stripes of a herd in flight jumble up in chaotic flashes of stripes going in all directions. Especially effective at predator eye level.

[@lanzer22]

The effectiveness of striped patterns made sense when it comes to confusing insects. It's just strange how how striped patterns showed up in evolution, and if there were no mosquitos, would random zebras still evolve to have striped skins?

[@hobbyhobbyhobbyhobby]

not me immediately hunting down a zebra species classification quiz right after seeing 1:49 lol

[@Disneydreamgirl33]

So i guess its good sense to wear Zebra stripes when you go to Africa, we could use this info on lots of things that need protection!

[@Necrobin]

I've been to Namibia and seen Zebras stand in dry/leafless undergrowth where they were really hard to spot when they didn't move. At least the camoflage function worked for me!

[@davea6314]

It's evolution baby! -Say it like you're Austin Powers.

[@chheinrich8486]

4:23 doz you want to give us seizures

[@ninahouse1209]

Wow,nice I can think of it

[@wickedbird1538]

😮😮I need some zebra striped shirts for picnics.

[@thomaslai1381]

Now we want to know if such striping can work for humans? Would wearing zebra stripe-patterned clothing help reduce bug bites? And if so, against which bugs would such striping work?

[@ericsmith6394]

There's research on colors vs mosquitoes that shows some effect, but I think that's only if other meals are nearby. Mosquitoes are too slow to crash. The other flying parasites in my area won't bite through clothes. I don't think I want to avoid them badly enough to wear zebra body paint.

[@YammyPhysics]

Zebra inspires many people

[@emmaeriksson7155]

Yey thank you!!!!!!

[@a4realbrotha50]

My dad used to train race horses (Harness) and there were may flies in the barns.......is this why they would use blankets with stripes?

[@nawnaw]

This solidified my hate for flies

[@pramodsingh7569]

Thanks

[@spankyharland9845]

Most hunting animal are color blind, zebras in group look like elephant grass from a distance. The pattern can also dazzle the hunter into trying to figure the front and rear of a zebra.

[@عبدالعزيزألأزرق-و5ي]

The animation is superior 💛💛💛🩵🩵🩵

[@sharoncolman]

@@عبدالعزيزألأزرق-و5ي you are too kind ☺️

[@Arahknid]

This makes me wonder: Is there a light spectrum that biting flies see in that humans don't? If so, could fabric be made with that pattern woven into it so that flies see that wild striping while we just see a boring cloth?

[@phelanwolf6747]

Yes, insects do see colors a lot differently than humans. But also many insects are very slow, for instance you could walk away from flying mosqitos, they would not be able to keep up.

[@JackieOwl94]

Fly boots to protect equines from flies are often striped for a similar reason.

[@phyliciajoykloes]

Wow, interessant

[@MemphiStig]

It's basically a big "we don't need you" warning to humans. Any horse but the striped ones, check.

[@shahzebansari6585]

So that's why I do not get mosquito bites when I wear a checkbox shirt.

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

Can you also make a video on why Zebra's are so difficult to domesticate? I do kinda already know why. But it's never a bad thing to have Ted go into a topic.

[@-_Nuke_-]

My guess is that they adapted through the generations to live in a very, VERY hostile environment.

[@abhishekpattanayak1443]

there's a CGP Grey video about the same, if you'd like see it

[@martinote510]

there's also discussion of that in Guns, Germs & Steel. Should have mentioned some of that here. The Germans didn't listen to the Swahili who warned them zebras don't play. So one kid died and a couple people lost a hand trying to domesticate them.

[@l.n.3372]

​@-_Nuke_- I think it's more about the mentality and biology of the zebra. They are not the same as horses despite having some similarities. Horses can be domesticated but zebras cannot because of these differences

[@SecureBirch410]

​@@l.n.3372they also have a different social dynamic I believe? Where zebras group up, but don't really care about each other

[@Paraf0x]

“Wild asses” became my favourite scientific term

[@katherineknapp4370]

Zebras are so cute 😍

[@garethwilliams2173]

I think it’s to do with disrupting depth perception of the attacking carnivore at the final stage of the attack. Hopefully the lion will misjudge his lunge and miss its bite or grip. The Okapi has similar stripes but only in the areas likely to be attacked.

[@azurestairway]

So basically if Bronsart were shifty enough to paint the horse with zebra stripes, his work would actually be accomplished.🤪

[@debbietempleman5080]

The reason zebras have stripes is because they don't want to be spotted running around the the wild.

[@mrgrand4742]

do you mean Tsetse flies?

[@kevindelaney1951]

Zebras considered polkadots & quickly realized that they looked foolish in them.

[@Ahmed-z2w6i]

this video needed an epilepsy warning lol

[@SALESPRODUCTIONS]

They have stripes because that adaptation allowed for more of them ( that had stripes ) to survive and procreate over long periods of time. The end.

[@Noruego]

was I the only one laughing at Wild Asses? 😂

[@icantchooseaname6903]

Oh my

[@волимбабе]

how fking amazing is that wthh

[@auro1986]

evading flies isn't the only purpose why zebras have stripes

[@containedhurricane]

Zebras got the stripes from mutations and cross-breeding. Those stripes protect them from mosquitos for thousands of years

[@hdhillon53]

1:40, where's quagga?

[@iftekhar77]

that’s a good point

[@bkrxgamerx8765]

1:47 anything we dont know about : ITS JUST EVOLVE BROO

[@seedspittinspacecowboy]

So your telling me it's more effective if I dress up like tiger king every time I plan to go out into the woods?

[@BridgettWattson]

Как ты определяешь уровни поддержки и сопротивления?

[@joyl7842]

Strange number of mentions of "biting" when there's no biting involved, but stinging.

[@maxleroux]

Looks like the Wild Kratts were wrong again. I'm still annoyed that they perpetuated a common (and disproven) myth in their episode about chameleons. 🦓

[@m.darwish8135]

Does anyone know what software is used to create these 2d animations?

[@harrisongerdes7078]

I like Zebras

[@martijnkeisers5900]

Long live the Zebra!

[@nezperce2767]

They do time

[@ybeys]

"Why" they have stripes is because of mutations, why they "still" have them to this day is answered in this video

[@millerrepin4452]

All he had to do was paint his horses lol.

[@jarekwrzosek2048]

Horse: Hey, those flies are really getting on my nerves, How comethey don't bother you? Zebra: Oh, it's easy. I give them visual epilepsy with my pattern.

[@mrmosty5167]

I always thought it made it harder for lions to single out a target

[@downhillbike7721]

My country TANZANIA

[@reverendayglow]

Apparently the answer is, We don't know.

[@LarryB-inFL]

It MAY be true that it is an evolutionary advantage for avoiding fly bites, but that is actually just conjecture. Given that fly bites are a problem for most all animals, and given that nature almost always does convergent evolution for things that are helpful to the species, one has to ask why *only* zebras among all the grazing species have stripes, if it is universally helpful?

[@bottasheimfe5750]

another reason why Domesticating zebras is so difficult is Zebras don't have the same Family structures Horses do. with Wild Horses all you gotta do is tame the Horse that leads its herd in Migrations and the other horses will be much easier to deal with.

[@francis_n]

Right, I know what I'm wearing next time I go to Asia or Africa. Mosquitos will avoid me 😌

[@gbone7581]

Peacefull Sleep?