Zebra

The plains zebra (Equus quagga) is a member of the horse family. Of all wild horses, this is the most common extant species. Its striking coat pattern keeps fascinating researchers, and various theories have been vented as to how it came about. Some scientists think that it helps the development of coherence within a herd, while others suggest that the pattern has a cooling effect in the hot savanna. The most widely accepted hypothesis looks at the stripes as camouflage, with individual shapes melting into an indiscernible mass. Recent studies suggest that the threat that helped the stripe pattern to evolve did not come from large predators such as lions, but mainly from carriers of diseases, such as tsetse flies, which carry the sleeping sickness.