Want to know how to avoid mosquitoes this summer?  Well, ask a zebra.

According to scientists at the University of California at Davis, the best explanation for why the animals are adourned with their unique black and white stripes is to avoid being bitten by insects.

Until recently experts have speculated that the stripes were for camouflage, heat management or were some sort of sign to potential mates.

Now a further idea has developed -  that the stripes protect them from pesky biting bugs.

Before you start to run out and  buy black and white spray paint, the evidence is still not conclusive, but the team of researchers do say the insect repellant theory is the most convincing to date.

"I was amazed by our results," said lead author Tim Caro, a UC Davis professor of wildlife biology, in a news release. 

UC Davis compared  five different theories and found that striping was most prevalent in areas where more biting flies existed.  The number of predators or the temperature of a geographic area had no correlation.


Supporting their analysis is the fact that zebras are the only hooved mammal to develop the distinctive pattern.  

Unlike other African hooved mammals living in the same area, zebras have hair that is shorter than the mouthpart length of biting flies, so zebras may be particularly susceptible to annoyance by the bugs.

What's still unknown is exactly why the stripes ward off bugs.

"Yet in science, one solved riddle begets another," says the UC Davis release.