She made them wear rugby shirts she sewed with zebra stripes and had her “experimental animals” crawl around on their hands and knees in the sun in England. Without direct access to research animals, she enlisted the help of her three daughters, aged 8, 9 and 10.
![zebra stripes zebra stripes](https://isorepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/zebra-stripes.jpg)
She had also witnessed zebras spending a great deal of time grazing in the hot midday sun - more than the antelopes which lived in the same area - and believed the stripes might be helping them deal with the heat.įorty years ago she did her first experiment by draping different colored felt coats on water-filled oil drums out in the sun and taking the temperature of the water inside. But camouflage seemed a poor explanation to Cobb in light of her own observations in Africa of lions prowling up and down herds of zebras deciding which one to eat. When she was four years old, Cobb, now 85, first wondered about zebra stripes after reading Rudyard Kipling’s story “How the Leopard Got His Spots.” A nature documentary she watched claimed zebra stripes were a type of camouflage. Other scientists argue the main reason for stripes is to deter biting insects. “It’s about thermoregulation to avoid the heat and cold,” said Cobb, a retired amateur naturalist, who conducted the research with her zoologist husband, Stephen Cobb.
![zebra stripes zebra stripes](https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/zebras-e1550768121954.jpg)
New research published today in the Journal of Natural History shows stripes may create air flows that give zebras a kind of natural air conditioning system that helps them ward off the blazing sun. (Inside Science) - A gangrene-inducing bite in Africa, 40 years of curiosity, and backyard experiments her daughters still complain about have all come together to tell Alison Cobb one thing: Stripes help zebras keep their cool.