The Beatles, now and then.

The last Beatles, Out now, now and then. Now.

Out now.

This is Scientific Americans' 60

This is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science.

I'm Mark Stratton.

Everyone loves zebras. No doubt it's the Nati Stripes. But recent research into why the stripes exist indicates that the markings may be something of a mixed

blessing for the zebras that wear them. New research adds to evidence against old ideas that

somehow stripes call them down or confuse predators such as lions.

Confusing lions will be nice for them.

But the good news is that a group of researchers have additional evidence in support of a hypothesis

they proposed in 2014.

Stripes seem to confuse biting flies, causing them to overfly or crash into the zebras.

The study is in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Various ideas have been tossed around in the last 150 years about the African equid stripes.

This debate goes right back to the birth of evolution with Darwin and Wallace exchanging letters

on the subject.

Martin Howe, a biologist who studies animal vision at the University of Bristol and lead

author of the study.

Howe and his colleagues sought a mechanism for how stripes cause insect confusion.

They began with domestic horses in Great Britain.

They cover the horses with rugs featuring an array of designs from single color black or gray to check patterns and, of course,

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