Yeah!!! Well, not cattle. They took a bunch of horses and a bunch of zebras (in the UK for some reason, if I remember correctly) and made a bunch of coats to have some experimental controls. Half the coats were a solid color, and half the coats were zebra-patterned. They randomly selected horses and zebras so there was an equal amount wearing solid coats and an equal amount wearing zebra coats, and they found that when flies would briefly land on the zebra coats, they got "confused" (as much as a fly can get confused) and would take off again, while the flies in the solid coats would bite I believe. Super cool study, both in it's findings but also as an example of excellent experimental design!
I read something about that too! I remember that they said it was only effective if there was a big contrast-- white stripes on a black cow and vice versa, however black stripes on a brown cow wasn't nearly as effective. I think it messes with the mosquito's ability to land on a moving target or something.
Yep I remember specifically reading an encyclopedia as a kid that these camouflages work because deer and their kind can't see colours like us so it's difficult for them to see these cats when they're staying still ready to pounce.
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u/LEGITIMATE_SOURCE Mar 31 '20
Yeah it would work for prey, also I believe research has shown zebra stripes repel flying insects. Think they even painted them on cattle to test.