The Cellar Image of the Day

Magilla suggested this one out of a gallery of zebras, and I think it's a fine choice. Partly because it's such a great photo.

It really shows off why zebras have stripes at all. We think zebras look strange, but we look at them from our understanding of the world, and it turns out they are adapted to the lion's view of the world. From Howstuffworks:

Quote:

When all the zebras keep together as a big group, the pattern of each zebra's stripes blends in with the stripes of the zebras around it. This is confusing to the lion, who sees a large, moving, striped mass instead of many individual zebras. The lion has trouble picking out any one zebra, and so it doesn't have a very good plan of attack. It's hard for the lion to even recognize which way each zebra is moving: Imagine the difference in pursuing one animal and charging into an amorphous blob of animals moving every which way. The lion's inability to distinguish zebras also makes it more difficult for it to target and track weaker zebras in the herd.

So do zebra stripes confuse zebras as much as they confuse lions? Oddly enough, while making zebras indistinguishable to other animals, zebra stripes actually help zebras recognize one another. Stripe patterns are like zebra fingerprints: Every zebra has a slightly different arrangement. Zoologists believe this is how zebras distinguish who's who in a zebra herd.

Ah yes, and one other point: Fridays are reserved for cute/cool animal pictures. That means the python/gator clash has to wait until tomorrow. I thank all of you who saw it and realized that it was the perfect IotD. It is, but the rules say it has to wait!

Great picture.

There is a number of outstanding pictures on that link.
IIRC one of our members owned Zebras...a member of a different stripe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The zebra has developed two unique things: a pattern that confuses pattern recognition in lions, and a specific pattern recognition ability so they aren't as confused as the lion.

Most awesome pic! Is there a poster? There should be.

And thanks on waiting on the python v. 'gator. Florida. Who needs it?

That looks like a good place for Man to die after disproving the existence of God and proving black is white.

Best IoTD in a while.
And thanks for the input, UT. It's a sorry ass that can't learn something here in the Cellar.
I'd hate to know I had to tell any TWO zebras apart. Looking at the image they are all nearly identical exept for the younger ones.
I wonder what they see when they look at a crowd of homosapien.
THERE IS SAFETY IN NUMBERS
If George Jefferson were a cellarite I wonder what his comment would be.......I always wanted to ride one.

There is such a jigsaw puzzle. I own it. Not quite the same picture, but very similar. And yes, I have completed it.

Thanks Wombat, I didn't have the heart to tell them they are behind us here on OZ. (and not just in time zones

)

Lion tamers also take advantage of confusing lions with multiple, poorly definied targets. When a lion is presented with a four-legged chair it doesn't know which leg it should attack and so it gets confused. In the documentary "Fast, Cheap, and out of Control" they have a lion tamer talking about it. They also have a naked-mole-rat scientist, a robot scientist, and a topiary gardener talking about their own things.

I found the two that make 11, but I'm still confused.

Are they black stripes on white or white stripes on black? . . . and where does the red all over come in?

ME-Liz
http://lettingmebe.blogspot.com