• Dr Deepak Rawal

Stripes and spots on animal body always intrigue mankind. We also sometimes cross zebra crossing at road. As a human we know the importance of color pattern in the races of the world. Different tribes living in Africa, North America and Australia use striped body painting to deter biting flies. There are hundreds of animals with different pattern of stripes. Stripe riddle has puzzled mankind for over a century. Even Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace were unable to give plausible explanation for this. Dark color of skin or fur contains melanin which protects against ultraviolet radiation and helps to get more heat from sunlight. In general, there are four main reasons seems for evolution of these unique patterns amongst animals viz. camouflage, sexual selection, defense and aposematism. In this research I discuss and analyze various hypotheses of cause and significance of stripes on Zebra.

Zebra, Stripes, Hypothesis, Melanocytes, Melanophores, Camouflage

"The Causes and Significance of Stripes on Zebras", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.153-157, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904F29.pdf

"The Causes and Significance of Stripes on Zebras", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp153-157, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904F29.pdf