Thread subject: Diptera.info :: How the zebra got it stripes

Posted by atylotus on 10-02-2012 11:43
#1

....according to some Hungarian researchers zebra's stripes stave off blood-sucking insects, like tabanids....see more....http://jeb.biolog.../215/5/iii

Posted by Sara21392 on 10-02-2012 14:09
#2

Thank you so much, really interesting! :)

Posted by ChrisR on 10-02-2012 15:06
#3

I might have misread something but I have a small problem with their study ... Zebras are non-native to Budapest so how can we be sure that Hungarian tabanids will behave like African ones? You could equally argue that Hungarian tabanids have detection systems tuned towards the kind of horses that they have in Hungary - brown and white ones - and that striped horses are just unattractive because they are unknown there. :S

Perhaps they have covered this in the full text but I can't read that because it seems to be password protected :)

Edited by ChrisR on 10-02-2012 15:07