-
Asked by kezzy to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips on 22 Jun 2011.
-
David Corne answered on 21 Jun 2011:
It depends what happens in the womb as they develop – I would guess that the skin starts of white, and then the black develops on top, in which case they are white with black stripes. But it could well be more complicated than that. Was this a good question with a bad answer, or… ?
-
-
Ian van der Linde answered on 21 Jun 2011:
My gut feeling would be to say that they are dark with white stripes. I say this because most horse-like creatures are dark in colour, so I think they evolved the stripes to go on top of the darker colour that they already had. But I’m only guessing – good question though!
-
Helen Fletcher answered on 22 Jun 2011:
It’s generally thought that they are black with white stripes, as the white stripes are caused by a pigment being inhibited in those areas. So black is the actual colour, and the white areas are a variation on this ‘baseline’ state. Like white horses, I think zebras tend to have black/grey skin under their hair too. Apparently if you paint black and white stripes on a wall, it will attract zebras over. Just don’t try that on the wall of your school.
-
Comments