Motion may just be one aspect in a larger picture. Different orientations of stripe patterning may have evolved for different purposes.
- Anna Hughes
Stripes might not offer protection for animals living in groups, such as zebra, as previously thought, according to research just published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology.
Humans playing a computer game captured striped targets more easily than uniform grey targets when multiple targets were present. The finding runs counter to assumptions that stripes evolved to make it difficult to capture animals moving in a group.
“We found that when targets are presented individually, horizontally striped targets are more easily captured than targets with vertical or diagonal stripes. Surprisingly, we also found no benefit of stripes when multiple targets were presented at once, despite the prediction that stripes should be particularly effective in a group scenario,” said Anna Hughes, a researcher in the Sensory Evolution and Ecology group and the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.
“This could be due to how different stripe orientations interact with motion perception, where an incorrect reading of a target’s speed helps the predator to catch its prey.”
Read the full story
Image: Zebras, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Credit: CodeisPoetry
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
_______________________________________________