White Stripes by wysiwig

Photography • Animals • posted on Aug 19, 2012

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Description

One of the oldest members of the horse family, the African zebra seems exotic but it closely resembles the earliest equine ancestors. Black is the actual color of the fur, and the white patches are the areas that lack pigmentation So why the stripes? Zoologists believe stripes offer zebras protection from predators in two important ways. The wavy lines of a zebra blend in with the wavy lines of the tall grass around it. It doesn't matter that the zebra's stripes are black and white and the lines of the grass are yellow, brown or green, because the zebra's main predator, the lion, is colorblind. Zebras usually travel in large groups, in which they stay very close to one another. When all the zebras keep together as a big group, the pattern of each zebra's stripes blends in with the stripes of the zebras around it. This is confusing to the lion, who sees a large, moving, striped mass instead of many individual zebras. The lion has trouble picking out any one zebra, and so it doesn't have a very good plan of attack. Each zebra has a completely unique design. The stripes on its shoulders, or withers, contain the most individualized markings. This allows zebras to identify one another and find their offspring no matter where in the herd they might be. In the background, hanging from the large Acacia tree, is a Weaverbird nest.

Comments (13)

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Faemike55

12:26AM | Sun, 19 August 2012

Very cool capture and great information

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durleybeachbum

1:02AM | Sun, 19 August 2012

A lovely photo of this idyllic looking place. Love that nest!

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morningglory

6:55AM | Sun, 19 August 2012

Nice info, and love the Acacia tree.

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blondeblurr

10:49AM | Sun, 19 August 2012

Even to me, as a human - I get this optical illusion just looking at these well-fed Zebras - or is the one in front pregnant? That Acacia tree is so foreign to us here - but fascinating and exotic, like an umbrella ... a fine composition, Mark BB

alanwilliams

1:55PM | Sun, 19 August 2012

that is one beautiful picture

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Sea_Dog

3:32PM | Sun, 19 August 2012

great shot! Well done

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JuliSonne

4:27PM | Sun, 19 August 2012

This is a fantastic shot. The zebra so sharp and the background is like a silhouette. An enchanting landscape. Thanks for the info.

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psyoshida

5:02PM | Sun, 19 August 2012

Oh, gorgeous shot! It seems like the shot worth the whole trip over for. It's a wonderful composition. I love it. I did not know that about the lions and the stripes, very interesting to learn.

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