# Zebra's true colours

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2001, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317 "2001-01-10T12:54:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CheBanana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@CheBanana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheBanana)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/1 "2001-01-10T12:54:21Z")

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Is a Zebra a white aminal with black stripes, or a black animal with white stripes?

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/2 "2001-01-10T13:00:43Z")

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Amazingly, I didn’t find anything in the archives on it.

Anyway, the answer is: the animal is white, with black stripes.

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**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/3 "2001-01-10T15:00:06Z")

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It could be green with white and black stripes. :eek:

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**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/4 "2001-01-10T15:08:18Z")

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**Zebra** is white with dark hair.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/5 "2001-01-10T16:16:03Z")

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However, sometimes baby zebras are born with incompletely formed stripes. They are mostly black with white splotches.

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/6 "2001-01-10T16:44:54Z")

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Actually I am a hard core liberal democrate.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zebras-true-colours/49317/7 "2001-01-10T16:57:22Z")

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Stephen J. Gould addressed this in one of the books where he republishes his articles from science. (Can’t remember which book.)

In an article discussing the ways that genes express themselves during development, he concluded that zebras are white with black stripes.