Stripes that protect zebras from horseflies may do the same for humans
https://news.sky.com/story/stripes-that-...s-11608525
EXCERPT: For years
we have known that the black and whites stripes on a zebra's body were a vital deterrent to horseflies. But scientists think that the stripes may also protect humans from the blood-sucking insects. Many of the indigenous tribes in Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea who paint stripes on their bodies also live in places where horseflies are widespread. The stripes are for decoration, emotional expression or as markers of identity or group affiliation but maybe they also know something about repelling insects that the rest of the world did not. Scientists in Hungary set out to prove the theory using plastic mannequins covered in glue.
[...]
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers said: "The results of our field experiment support the theory that the use of striped body painting may be related to protection against dangerous parasitic pests. We found that striped body painting reduces the visual attractiveness of bodies to horseflies. However, we would like to emphasise that the primary reasons for the use of body paintings are social and cultural."
RELATED:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...122711.htm
(Jan 26, 2019 07:17 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]Stripes that protect zebras from horseflies may do the same for humans
https://news.sky.com/story/stripes-that-...s-11608525
EXCERPT: For years we have known that the black and whites stripes on a zebra's body were a vital deterrent to horseflies. But scientists think that the stripes may also protect humans from the blood-sucking insects. Many of the indigenous tribes in Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea who paint stripes on their bodies also live in places where horseflies are widespread. The stripes are for decoration, emotional expression or as markers of identity or group affiliation but maybe they also know something about repelling insects that the rest of the world did not. Scientists in Hungary set out to prove the theory using plastic mannequins covered in glue.
[...] Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers said: "The results of our field experiment support the theory that the use of striped body painting may be related to protection against dangerous parasitic pests. We found that striped body painting reduces the visual attractiveness of bodies to horseflies. However, we would like to emphasise that the primary reasons for the use of body paintings are social and cultural."
RELATED: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...122711.htm
variant chemicals disrupt insects feeding process.
mostly in open air.
when the same chemicals are applied in a closed boxed test lab the insects are less put off by it.
as for stripes ...
appropriately configured stripes will disrupt the visual system of different creatures, like camouflage patterns do for the human.
it may be possible to have a super low volt LED flashing with some light type that will act like an insect repellent.
Hard to believe in the zebra’s case that evolution favoured repelling insects over protective camouflage colouring. Does that mean at one time the zebra had to contend more with flies than predators? Almost suggests that zebras were once fairly safe from predation.
(Jan 27, 2019 10:37 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]Hard to believe in the zebra’s case that evolution favoured repelling insects over protective camouflage colouring. Does that mean at one time the zebra had to contend more with flies than predators? Almost suggests that zebras were once fairly safe from predation.
good question.
i was pondering this type of issue some time back and ran into the numbers game.
once you increase food source and increase herd numbers. everything changes.
apex predators tend not to reduce territory(also if your wondering) so they kill themselves off in fights to the death over territory even though game numbers increase massively.
i am not sure if any scientists have put a name to this effect and published about it.
it has been eluded to in many wild life documentarys about big cats for some decades.
RU...I think zebra marking evolution would affect the fly’s evolution. Perhaps over time the insects that had trouble locating zebras found big cat predators and others (Competition?) an easier target. Could these biting flies upset big cat immune systems and help decimate populations for a period. Any absence of big cats/predators over a significant time period may have deemed it unnecessary for the zebra to evolve predator protective camouflage, it was more beneficial to have the repelled flies around. The repelled flies, could they have contributed to zebra success in some way by tormenting/eliminating predators?
(Jan 28, 2019 04:25 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]RU...I think zebra marking evolution would affect the fly’s evolution. Perhaps over time the insects that had trouble locating zebras found big cat predators and others (Competition?) an easier target. Could these biting flies upset big cat immune systems and help decimate populations for a period. Any absence of big cats/predators over a significant time period may have deemed it unnecessary for the zebra to evolve predator protective camouflage, it was more beneficial to have the repelled flies around. The repelled flies, could they have contributed to zebra success in some way by tormenting/eliminating predators?
excellent question.
the biting fly (flies that feed off blood)
is probably an adaptation from flies that fed off other insects.
assuming that insects came before the zebras and big-cats
possibly the feces being close to shaded areas allowed the biting fly to breed faster where it simply attacked larger non conformist pheromones making the biting fly an abortion f the previous evolutionary process.
Search Results Featured snippet from the web Females lay batches of 25 to 1,000 eggs on vegetation that stand over water or wet sites. The larvae that hatch from these eggs fall to the ground and feed upon decaying organic matter or small organisms in the soil or water. The larvae, stage usually lasts from one to three years, depending on the species.
Quote:Search Results
Featured snippet from the web
Females lay batches of 25 to 1,000 eggs on vegetation that stand over water or wet sites. The larvae that hatch from these eggs fall to the ground and feed upon decaying organic matter or small organisms in the soil or water. The larvae, stage usually lasts from one to three years, depending on the species.
say an over population of large animals which also coincides with draught for a few years...
or extreme cold(ice age)
leaving only room for flies that live inside caves with big-cats etc to survive.
living exclusively off animals which survive off eating other animals as a primary water source.
Extinct relative shared common ancestry with zebra. Wiki article on the Quagga.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga
Excerpt: 2014 study strongly supported the biting-fly hypothesis, and the quagga appears to have lived in areas with lesser amounts of fly activity than other zebras.