斑马身上的条纹有何用？

Do you still remember Marty，the zebra in Madagascar？He wonders all the time：Is he black with white，or white with black？About his stripes there is more beyond the question that black is the main color or the white one.

Why do zebras have stripes?Or why are the strips important to zebras?

The newly experiments made by researchers suggest that strips make it hard for horse flies or other insects to land on the zebra.

One experiment goes like this:The researchers put blankets with stripes on horses and saw that fewer flies landed on them.

The researchers also recorded videos of horse flies as they tried to bite zebras and horses at a farm in North Somerset，England.Stripes did not stop flies from a distance，as they circled horses and zebras at similar rates.But the flies were 25 percent less likely to land on zebras.

There are mainly four theories about why zebras developed stripes.The first theory is to avoid attack by meat-eating animals.Another is that these strips can help zebras recognize each other.A third idea is with the help of the stripes zebras can control their body temperature.The fourth theory is to prevent attacks by biting flies.

Now the experiments show that the last theory stands up.

你还记得《马达加斯加》中的斑马马蒂吗？有一个问题一直困扰着它：它到底是黑白相间，还是白黑相间？除了“黑色是主色，还是白色是主色”的问题，有关它身上的条纹，马蒂需要关心的还有很多。

为什么斑马有条纹？或者说这些条纹有什么用？

最新的实验表明，斑马身上的条纹增加了马蝇或其他昆虫着陆斑马身体的难度。

其中一个实验是这样的：研究人员把带有条纹的毯子披在马背上，发现落在马身上的马蝇变少了。

研究人员还在英格兰的北萨默塞特的一个农场里，拍摄了马蝇叮咬斑马和马的视频。他们发现斑马身上的条纹并不能阻止马蝇的靠近，因为围在马和斑马身边的马蝇数量差不多。但是落在斑马身上的马蝇数量比马身上的要少25%。

斑马身上条纹的用途，主要有四个：一是可以避免肉食动物的进攻；二是有助于斑马识别同伴；三是可以调节斑马体温；四是防止蚊虫叮咬。

最近的实验表明最后一条更成立。