Why does a zebra appear to be black and white?

Black skin, with both white and black hairs growing in a predetermined pattern. I.e., a Palomino-colored horse. read more

This is mainly due to selective pigmentation. As mentioned, zebra embryos are completely black and the white stripes appear at the last embryonic stage. read more

These flies are attracted to linearly polarized light, and the study showed that black and white stripes disrupt the attractive pattern. Further, attractiveness increases with stripe width, so the relatively narrow stripes of the three living species of zebras should be unattractive to horseflies. Stripes may be used to cool the zebra. read more