Over thousands of years, animals have developed different ways to survive. From hiding in the environment that surrounds them through mimicry to systems of confusion or confusion. In fact, each species has evolved differently, despite the fact that the goal is always the same: to avoid being predated. However, some systems remain a complete enigma for the scientific community. This is the case of animals that use stripes as camouflage. In which areas are the stripes and why is their color so important?
In the case of zebras, according to a study published by the journal PLOS ONE in 2019, these mammals have stripes to avoid blood-sucking parasites. Also, while stingrays do not deter insects from long distances, they do deter insects from short distances.
On the other hand, as an international research carried out by the Doñana Biological Station concludes, the stripes on the body and the extremities of certain species play a fundamental role in the flight in the same direction in a coordinated way. Likewise, the results of this study have been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The stripes, a form of escape
According to the main author of the research, Juan José Negro, the stripes represent a universal language that explains why certain mammals, birds and fish move in unison at the call of a predator. In fact, they do it quickly, and that is only explained by the existence of a visual code (that is, with the stripes) that act as direction lines in their escape movement. To reach this conclusion, the scientists had to analyze data from two groups of birds, ruminant mammals and a group of coral reef fish.
All of them form social groups that are usually the target of predatory animals, and flee in an organized way when they are about to be attacked. Furthermore, according to Juan José Negro, these body bands appear more frequently in social species, and tend to appear less in solitary animals or less vulnerable to predation.
For this reason, scientists have concluded that stingrays are a communication mechanism used by animals to form groups. In the same way, it keeps them informed of the direction they should take without causing chain crashes. On the other hand, as Black points out, the stripes are black and white rather than colored because they are highly contrasting and can be seen in any light condition. Thus, animals can communicate and see the signals in any circumstance.
