Nature's no-fly zone?

• Position: Zebras - Brief article

The question of why zebras have stripes has long puzzled scientists. But now a team of researchers from Hungary and Sweden say they may have the answer: The stripes repel blood-sucking horseflies. The alternating black and white bars, the scientists say, reflect light in a way that drives horseflies away; by contrast the "flat" light waves created by stripe-free horses and donkeys seem to attract the insects. To test their hypothesis, the researchers put insect glue on a whiteboard, a blackboard, and a board striped like a zebra, then placed them in a field near a horse farm. Two days later, they counted the insects and found that the striped board had attracted the fewest flies...