Horseflies misjudge landings on zebra patterns, compared with solid gray or black surfaces, which provides evidence for why evolution came up with the black-and-white pattern. Everyone loves zebras.

How did the zebra get its stripes? The fashionable patterned coat protects the animal from horsefly bites by disorienting the flies during the landing process, research has shown. But how exactly do ...

Zebras are famous for their contrasting black and white stripes – but until very recently no one really knew why they sport their unusual striped pattern. It’s a question that’s been discussed as far ...

A zebra's stripes, a seashell's spirals, a butterfly's wings: these are all examples of patterns in nature. The formation of patterns is a puzzle for mathematicians and biologists alike. How does the ...

Scientists think they know how zebras got their stripes – and the answer is far from black and white. They say that despite usually being thought of as camouflage, the stripes more likely evolved to ...

LONG BEACH >> They aren’t painted. Instead, zebras developed stripes to keep biting flies away, according to Theodore Stankowich, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Cal ...

, a new study suggests. There's good evolutionary reason to escape the ravages of horseflies, at least for horses and their relatives; though flies are just annoying pests from the human perspective, ...