Study shows cows painted like zebras reduces fly bites

23 Dec 2019

Study shows cows painted like zebras reduces fly bites

Study shows cows painted like zebras reduces fly bitesWe all find flies disturbing when they buzz around us or bite us. The same is true for cows and other livestock animals. But experts have now found that painting cows to look like zebras can reduce the fly bites.

An experiment was conducted with six Japanese black cows. Two were painted with white stripes to look like a zebra. Two were painted with black stripes. And two were not painted at all.
 	This was repeated for nine days. Each cow spent three days each either painted striped, painted black or unpainted.
 	Only 55 flies came over the striped cows, but 111 came to the black painted cows and 128 on the unpainted cows.
 	According to studies the stripped pattern on the zebra’s body confuses the fly’s motion detection. It flies towards the zebra at high speeds but then gets confused and doesn’t slow down properly.

Currently pesticides are used to protect livestock against fly bites. But this easy method of painting cows as zebras can help to stop the use of pesticides and chemicals for a better environment.

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We all find flies disturbing when they buzz around us or bite us. The same is true for cows and other livestock animals. But experts […]

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