How the zebra got its stripes is a perennial topic of debate. While some scientists claim the black and white stripes act as camouflage, others say that they deter insects.
Researchers studying the subject say that stripes have not only been shown to deter horseflies in zebras - but many primitive tribes have also learned the trick and use stripy body paint to prevent the painful bites of the blood-sucking parasites.To test the theory, researchers painted mannequins with white stripes similar to those used in body painting by tribal peoples all over the world.
They added: 'White-striped body paintings, such as those used by African and Australian people, may serve to deter horseflies, which is an advantageous byproduct of these body paintings that could lead to reduced irritation and disease transmission by these blood sucking insects.'The stripes differ greatly from tribe to tribe.
The authors from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest said: 'The most striking striped mammals are zebras, in which it has been shown that their striped body pattern reduces their attractiveness to horseflies as compare to both homogeneous dark and white/bright host animals, the latter being much less attractive to these parasites than the former.
'Owing to the resemblance between zebra stripes and the bright stripes of traditional body painting, we hypothesized that these body paintings have the advantageous effect that they protect humans visually against the attack of blood-sucking horseflies.
'White-striped body paintings, such as those used by African and Australian people, may serve to deter horseflies, which is an advantageous byproduct of these body paintings that could lead to reduced irritation and disease transmission by these blood-sucking insects.'
-Dailymail