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Posted on 11/21/2021 11:15:41 AM PST by BenLurkin
The stunning black-and-white coloration of the zebra's hide stands out in stark contrast with the dry, brown-and-green, treeless grasslands and savannah woodlands of their home territories of East and southern Africa, according to the African Wildlife Foundation.
These stripes are unique to each individual. There are three zebra species living today — the plains zebra (Equus quagga), the mountain zebra (E. zebra) and the Grevy's zebra (E. grevyi) — and each of those species has a different striping pattern, too. For some, the darker portions of their hide are black, whereas others have browner coloring, and some have stripes only on their bodies but not on their legs.
Although zebras have black skin, different developmental processes determine their fur color, just like a light-skinned person can have dark hair, Caro said. In fact, zebras actually have more light-colored hair than dark — their bellies are usually light — so it may seem that zebras are white with black stripes.
But that's not the case. Here's why: Every piece of hair — both light and dark — grows from a follicle filled with melanocyte cells, according to a 2005 review in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. These cells produce a pigment that determines the color of hair and skin. This pigment is known as melanin; a lot of melanin leads to darker colors, like dark brown or black, while less melanin leads to lighter colors, such as hazel or blond, Live Science previously reported. Zebras' black fur is chock-full of melanin, but melanin is absent from white fur, in essence, because the follicles that make up the stripes of white hair have "turned off" melanocytes, meaning they don't churn out pigment.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Buddy Buddy, don’t mess with me when I’ve been drinkin’!
On the other hand Democrats and Communists are Red with Red stripes.
White with black stripes.
Don’t the black stripes end towards the middle of the belly?
Zebras developed the stripes so they would blend in with the environment and be invisible to predators.
Yes, of course.
All I know is an embarrassed zebra, like a newspaper, is black and white and re(a)d all over.
They’re actually purple, they’re just covered in black and white stripes.
They are now registered in three red states as democrats.
Zebra are gray.
LSBLM
(Left Side Black Lives Matter)
— Frank Zappa, Call Any Vegetable
looks like robert reed from the brady bill.
Zebras live in grasslands an Savannas...as in the previously posted image.
Doesn't look like blending with the local environment....looks pretty darn bold to me.
It’s not actually for camoflauge, it’s so predators can’t get a visual lock on an individual within a herd.
Everyone knows that zebras are black and those white stripes are oppressing them.
Racist
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