Yikes, Stripes!M. Ross

Zebra Podcast

Habitat: Grassland

Make a Hypothesis:How do the stripes on a zebra help it camouflage itself in the grassland?

Lab Debrief:

• How many rectangles did you count during the one second time frame?

• How many rectangles did you count during the one minute time frame?

• Why?

Count the number of rectangles you see below on top of the newsprint:

Want to see the results?

The stripes are designed for two things:camouflage

disorientation

Lions are colorblind, so the wavy pattern of the stripes helps the zebra blend in to the tall, wavy grass. When in large herds, the stripes blend together with the other zebra in the herd, making it difficult for lions to pick out individual animals. This confuses the lions and weakens their plan of attack.

What do people see?

What does a lion see?