Please settle an argument with my brother. Is a zebra white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?

zoner1215

Could be both... White with black stripes or black with white stripes? This is one of the most-asked questions about zebras. So what's up with the stripes? Zebras are generally thought to have white coats with black (sometimes brown) stripes. That's because if you look at most zebras, the stripes end on their bellies and toward the insides of the legs, and the rest is all white. However (there had to be a catch, right?), some zebras are born with genetic variations that make them all black with white stripes, or mostly dark with the striped pattern only on part of their coats. And as it turns out, zebras have black skin underneath their hair. So it kind of depends on how you look at it! So, why the stripes? They serve as a kind of protection from predators! When zebras are grouped together, their stripes make it hard for a lion or leopard to pick out one zebra to chase. Different zebra species have different types of stripes, from narrow to wide. In fact, the further south on the African plains you travel, the farther apart the stripes on the zebras get! http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-zebra.html Mar 09 05, 11:24 AM

elizabethmc

http://www.visualsunlimited.com/images/watermarked/136/136320.jpg Mar 09 05, 12:52 PM

TheAlphaWolf

I say they are black with white stripes. There aren't many white animals running around in nature and evolutionarily speaking it would make more sense that it was first a black animal and then had white stripes. Mar 09 05, 6:03 PM

kaylofgorons

Stripes work for identification, camouflage, and confusion. The confusion comes either when the lion has trouble telling where one ends and the other begins or when he ponders whether the zebra is white with black stripes or black with white stripes... Mar 09 05, 8:52 PM