Hungarian researchers found that zebras’ stripes do not help stay cool

According to borsonline.hu, several theories exist as to why zebras have stripes. Some believe that they help them with camouflage, others that they help them to deal with the heat. A Hungarian research team set out to discover the truth.

Existing theories about zebra stripes

The debate about the reason zebras have stripes has been going on for a long time. Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace argued about this back in 1870, and at least 18 new theories have popped up since then. One of them was that the stripes create air currents that help the animals cool down. However, Hungarian researches invested four months of experimentation into this theory, and they succeeded in disproving it.

Researchers from the Hungarian University of Veterinary Medicine, from Eötvös Loránd University’s Faculty of Science and the Swedish Lund University, published their findings in the Scientific Reports, refuting the theories that have persisted over the years.

Gábor Horváth, the associate professor of the Faculty of Science at Eötvös Loránd University who is also the leader of the research said that

“One of the most well-known theories that we managed to refute is over seventy years old. This says that sunlight makes the black stripes warmer, creating ascending air currents, while the white ones are less affected by heat, creating descending air currents.

These result in small eddies in the air that cool the body. Those familiar with Physics thought this to be a viable explanation.”

Hungarian research

Gábor Horváth and his colleagues started working on the project last year. They received money for the research and made sure to get thermometers, automatic meteorological devices, black, white and grey horse skins as well as cattle and zebra skins. They also got some barrels, covered them with the skins, filled them up with water and thus began the experiment.