# How Zebra got its stripes.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 9, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302 "2012-02-09T10:58:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302/21 "2014-04-02T07:17:08Z")

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[This document](http://shaggy-dogs.briancombs.net/4194/frank-buck) describes, in great detail, how the Zebra got his stripes.

(tl;dr: Tarzan painted the stripes on the Zebra.)

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**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302/22 "2014-04-02T19:39:49Z")

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> [@PastTense](#):
>
> Some further research supports this hypothesis. “We observed that stripped species have a great degree of geographical range overlap with biting flies,” Cato told the Monitor. And “conversely, there is no consistent support for camouflage, predator avoidance, heat management or social interaction hypotheses,”  
> [Why do zebras have stripes? New research offers answer. - CSMonitor.com](http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0401/Why-do-zebras-have-stripes-New-research-offers-answer.-video)

If zebras were stripped they’d be naked.

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302/23 "2014-04-02T19:44:12Z")

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I striping your dog.

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302/24 "2014-04-02T20:18:22Z")

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I thought the stripes were printed on the zebras by the inventory control department.

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**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-zebra-got-its-stripes/612302/25 "2014-04-02T20:30:56Z")

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Yeah, I read it too and am also skeptical, it sounds like a sweeping correlation-without-causation fallacy. I would also note that great white sharks are conspicuously absent from the zebra’s habitat, and will draw far larger volumes of blood from a zebra when they latch onto them, and ask the researchers to consider how the stripes play a role in selecting for shark-resistant populations.

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