If you ’re a harmless herbivore , like the zebra , attempting to lay low in an African Savannah River full of hungry marauder , a flash coat of striped furmight not seem like the good option . However , there could be a utile and unexpected side gist of this dazzling choice of coloration .
peculiarly enough , black and white stripes appear to protect human and other brute from horsefly bite and other line - sucking aggravator . As shown in a recent study in the journalRoyal Society Open Science , donning striped consistence paint could contract the number of Hippobosca equina bites a person get by up to 10 times .
former studieshave shown that zebra tend to meet fewer bug bites than other similar creatures , but this is the first written report to practice this idea to humans and our far-flung use of stripes .
researcher were urge to scientifically study this idea after observe a figure of different tribal group in Africa , Australia , Papua New Guinea , and North America use disinvest bodypaint during ceremonial and rituals . The cultural significance of the rouge and patterns differ from acculturation to culture , but the fact it plays a very practical fly - repelling role can not be ignored , the researchers argue .
Hippobosca equina can be much more than just a sting and an itch because the female of the specie can also transfer blood - bear disease between animal . As such , warding off these nuisance can be a matter of living or death .
“ We are however positive that these people know well the horsefly - repelling feature of their bodypaintings , " go writer Gabor Horvath , from the Department of Biological Physics at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary , toldAFP tidings agency .
" basically , the use of white-hot - striped bodypaintings can be weigh as an representative for behavioral evolution / bionomics and an adaptation to the environment . "
Scientists examine this consequence by using three different mannequins : one with dark skin , one with light tegument , and another with dark skin that had been paint with bloodless stripes . After result the mannequins in a hayfield near Szokolya in Hungary over the summertime , they go on to look up the act of bites they received .
“ In our field experiment , the model that was least attractive to horseflies was the white - striped glowering exemplar , ” the researchers wrote in their conclusion .
They even went a step further to realize why the horsefly are so put off by the undress patterns . Using a set of mellow - tech gadgetry , they showed that the stripy body reflected notably less polarized light , which is known to attract water - seeking bugs .
