51�Թ�

E. schneideri is primarily transmitted by tabanid flies like horse and deer flies.

Further, the scientists did not see a single tabanid probe a zebra’s skin during 5.3 hours of direct observation, whereas the flies successfully did so 239 times on the uncovered horses during 11 hours of observing them.

"Above all, for this explanation to be true, the authors would have to show that tabanid fly bites are a major selection pressure on zebras, but not on horses and donkeys found elsewhere in the world... none of which are stripy," he told BBC Nature.