With summer picnics around the corner, maybe consider some striped outfits.
A zebra’s stripes are commonly understood to serve as camouflage for predators that can see color as we can, but a new theory posits the stripes ward off insects, as the patterns confuse the bugs’ landing systems.
With that in mind, according to a new study published in PLoS ONE, Japanese scientists sought to see if a zebra’s stripes can help other animals with their biting bug problem. So they did the logical thing: They painted white stripes on black cows, then used advanced camera equipment to see if the insects stayed away.
The findings that resulted were deemed remarkable. The cows that were done up like zebras had less than half the number of biting flies than non-painted ones.
Lest this seem like a silly experiment, know that the bugs aren’t merely an annoyance for cows. According to RealClearScience, biting flies do some $2.2 billion worth of damage a year to the cattle industry. Being swarmed by biting flies stresses out the cows, which not only affects their milk production — it also causes them to sleep and eat less, and also bunch together, which ups their anxiety level and can cause them to unintentionally injure each other.
The scientists behind the study want to deploy it on a larger group of cattle to bolster their findings, with the hope that a little non-toxic paint could someday replace nasty pesticides commonly used on livestock.