All animals and plants living on Earth have adapted themselves to their local environment as they evolved over the centuries. Plants with larger leaves do better in the tropical rainforests than in arid deserts. Animals that hunt more at night have sharper vision. These are just a couple of examples of adaptations that we know the reasons to.

Then there is the Zebra. Why does the Zebra have stripes? There have been any number of theories put forth by researchers and biologists over the years for the black and white appearance of the Zebra. Some said it helped camouflage them better from their natural predators, others maintained that the stripes helped in regulating body temperature.

Few even suggested that the Zebra’s stripes prevent it from getting bitten by too many insects. At the Royal Society Open Science researchers decided to try and answer this eternal mystery by conducting a scientific study. They quantified the characteristics of stripes on zebras at 16 sites across the animals’ range. Then the researchers examined 29 environmental factors, including temperature, predation, and biting flies, searching for an association between the stripes and the environment.

What the science project threw up was surprising. Apparently the strongest correlation came up between the temperature and the stripes. The lower the temperature the fewer and lighter the Zebra stripes seemed to be in an area. Of course multiple biological processes are involved and it will take a whole lot more observation to figure out the true answer to this question.