In the 1950s, with the development of the automobile industry, the streets of major cities were full of traffic and traffic accidents were frequent.
Therefore, the British designed a horizontal grid of crosswalk lines, stipulating that pedestrians can only take the crosswalk when crossing the street.
Because these horizontal lines look like the markings on zebras, they are named "zebra crossings". With eye-catching zebra crossings, pedestrian safety is guaranteed.
In fact, the stripes on the zebra have the same wonderful use as the zebra crossing.
Scientists have found that the stripes on zebras act like a cloak of invisibility, helping them prevent predators from attacking.
When lions, tigers, wolves and other beasts of prey appear, as long as the head horse moves, all the zebras can quickly follow and escape.
The black and white stripes on the zebra's body are illuminated by sunlight or moonlight, and the light absorbed and reflected varies, making the contours of the zebra's body blurred.
In addition, the undulating lines on the running zebras are very similar to the undulating ripples of the grass, and it is difficult to distinguish them from the surrounding environment from a distance, so it is difficult for lions, tigers and other animals to accurately estimate the actual position and speed of the zebra, so that the zebras can avoid the disaster.
In addition, the stripes of zebras have a wonderful use: dispersing and weakening the bite of the stinging fly.
The stinging fly is a diptera commonly found in the steppe, which prefers to bite animals of a single color and spread a sleep disorder.
Scientists have conducted experiments in zebras where they live, and they have turned iron barrels dyed in black, white and black and white on electric currents and placed them in the bushes.
Soon, the thorny flies that landed on the iron barrel were all killed by electric shocks. Scientists compared the three-color iron barrel and found that the black and white iron barrel had the lowest number of thorny flies.
This may explain why, in the same environment, animals of a single color such as antelopes are often bitten by stinging flies, while zebras are not bitten, successfully avoiding the problem of sleep sickness, so that their groups continue to grow and develop.
The formation of markings
How do the beautiful and elegant markings on the zebra are formed? Scientists analyzed: Early in the pregnancy of female zebras, a fixed, identically spaced form of stripes already appeared in the embryo.
As the embryo continues to develop, the degree of stretching and expansion of each part of the cub's body is different, and the stripes formed are different, and the stripes on the small zebra after birth are wide and some are narrow. #斑马 #
