
Cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid biting fly attack - ga-vu
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/08/us/cows-painted-zebras-avoid-flies-scn-trnd/index.html
======
Someone
[https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223447):

 _”The treatments were black-and-white painted stripes, black painted stripes,
and no stripes (all-black body surface)”_

Weird that they didn’t have a fourth group with white painted stripes. Now,
the group with black-and-white painted stripes is the only one that has white
paint applied, so it could as well be that the white paint causes the
difference.

~~~
anw
Very interesting article.

I would love to drive by fields of zebra-painted cows, however it does make me
wonder if there were other elements at play.

From the plos.org article above: "Biting flies are attracted to their host
animals by odors, shape, movement, brightness, color, polarization and body
temperature"

By painting on an animal, you are now changing not just the color (and
perceived shape, which affects perception of movement), but also the odor (due
to the paints) and perhaps interfering with how the flies will perceive the
body temperature of the animal, too.

It would also be interesting to see how these specific data points compare
between zebras and the cows used for these kinds of tests.

~~~
anon1m0us
If that's the case, then the flies will evolve to ignore the changes and adapt
to the new zebra cows.

This is a short term fix at best.

~~~
Eric_WVGG
if that was the case, flies would have evolved to adapt to zebras by now.

~~~
anon1m0us
It only repels 50% of the bites though. Thus, those that bite, will survive
and make babies. Some of them will be able to bite, others not.

Eventually, only those that can bite will survive.

I don't see how it can go the other way. Where eventually since only half of
them bite, that ratio declines to zero. Can that happen with evolution?

I suppose there is a tipping point where if enough of the population can't
find each other then they all die alone. Like rats in Alberta.

~~~
lurquer
50% less bites does not imply only 1/2 of flies are biting. It's more likely
that each fly bites only 1/2 as much.

------
sgt
I think the sample size is too low. I am willing to bet that once you start
doing this, the flies will start adapting and learning - eventually completely
ignoring the stripes after a few generations.

~~~
rudolph9
With enough time I 100% agree but considering the flys have not adapted for
centuries to biting zebras with their stripes I’m skeptical this will happen
any time soon.

~~~
sgt
I think you underestimate fly intelligence. There's been a lot of research
done on e.g. fruit flies, and they are pretty intelligent compared to their
neuron count, showing a simple thought process before acting.

~~~
Gene_Parmesan
But the point is, the theory with the most current support for why zebras have
stripes is that they help the zebras avoid biting flies. As far as I
understand it, it's not about intelligence, it's about confusing the flies'
ability to detect movement. That's where this idea came from -- from research
on zebra striping.

~~~
edoo
As a kid I was taught zebra stripes throw off the depth perception of lunging
predators leading to increased survival rates. It is similar to the dazzle
camouflage of old ships.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage)

~~~
jonshariat
Ditto but I remember reading that they were uncertain if it was even
effective. Anyone know if this is proven in other circumstances? It seems to
make sense intuitively.

~~~
Eric_WVGG
there was a recent study where striped “jackets” were given to horses, and
were found to be very effective.

[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/zebra-stripes-
hor...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/zebra-stripes-horse-flies-
disease-research-evolution-science-a8789701.html)

------
Angostura
The problem I have with the paper is regarding the nature of the controls.

They painted black and while stripes on the cows. But they don't say what the
controls were that I can see. Unpainted cows? Or cows painted a single colour.

I'd want to see all white and all black painted animals - perhaps the makeup
of the paint put off the flies?

~~~
iicc
[https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223447)

>Six Japanese Black cows were assigned to treatments using a 3 × 3 Latin-
square design. The treatments were black-and-white painted stripes, black
painted stripes, and no stripes (all-black body surface).

So apparently flies don't like white paint.

~~~
reportgunner
Also is being painted healthy for the cows ?

~~~
pvaldes
Most probably not; Cows would eventually lick and ingest the painting. There
are several types of white pigments, some are poisonous and permanent using
several metallic salts, other non durable, calcium and chalk based, and would
be washed with the first rain.

The idea of a blanket is better, but the problem is that the blanket would act
as a tick sanctuary then.

Sometimes, it seems that everybody is trying to solve the wrong problems, in
any case.

~~~
maury91
the article says is water-based paint, so it isn't toxic

~~~
darknoon
The comment above is indicating issues with the pigment, rather than the
solvent used to disperse it. You can have very toxic water-based paint, see
watercolors with cadmium etc. That being said, it's completely plausible to
mix eg chalk with something non-toxic that also doesn't wash off so quickly.

------
scotty79
I think the article doesn't mention that but this is inspired by previous
research on zebras, done to explain why zebras have evolved this kind of
pattern.

~~~
steamer25
I've heard that the stripes make it difficult to track an individual zebra
against the backdrop of the whole herd. I.e., a lion might start chasing zebra
A, but become disoriented and move onto zebra B who hasn't been worn down from
direct pursuit. Researchers have supposedly observed that individual zebras
marked with red paint smears tend to get eaten sooner.

------
protomyth
Somehow driving through South Dakota looking out over a vast field of seaweed
eating, zebra striped cows was not the future I anticipated as a youth.

I'd like some more research given that cows come in black / white patterns,
pure white, and pure black. Is stripes really a thing and how about the other
patterns? Do we start breading for color now?

------
k_sze
6 cows doesn’t seem like a significant enough sample.

Anecdotally, I tend to attract mosquitoes a lot more than some other members
of my family. I would imagine the same phenomenon is true among cows.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I know of that phenomena! I had a Scout, after 6 days on Isle Royale and we
were joking about our mosquito bites and how we looked like we all had
rickets, calmly said "Mosquitoes don't bite me."

We all looked at him, and he didn't have a bite/blemish on him. Nothing. Not
one.

I told him, you put that in a bottle and you'll be an instant millionaire.

~~~
openasocket
I know that the swelling and itching from a mosquito bite is actually an
allergic reaction to the mosquito's saliva. It's possible he was getting
bitten, but was one of the few that doesn't have that allergic reaction.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Always the skeptic! Most of us know instantly when we get bit by a mosquito.

~~~
Falling3
I've been bitten by a lot of mosquitoes and never once been aware of it
happening. I don't think anyone I know has ever claimed to know when it was
happening either.

------
fiedzia
I can't wait for "april fools" announcement after thousands of farmers will
paint their cows.

------
Gpetrium
It would be interesting to see whether certain flies evolutionary traits may
develop if we start painting cows. It is entirely possible that Zebra stripes
serves as a 'radar jammer' to flies and that it could help decrease fly bites,
further studies may be of interest in this area.

If evolutionary traits are likely to occurs, it is worth noting that the size
of cow (1,400,000,000) [1] and zebra (800,000)[2] population may have an
impact on how fast these traits evolve to cope with the new normal.

[1] [https://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/global-
li...](https://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/global-livestock-
counts) [2] [https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-do-zebras-
live.htm...](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-do-zebras-live.html)

------
spiderfarmer
This knowledge has already resulted in products like this horse blanket:
[https://www.boeren.nu/b_picture/6926/](https://www.boeren.nu/b_picture/6926/)

~~~
L_226
Do you think that the blanket itself might have some kind of influence on
preventing biting insects? /sarcasm

~~~
spiderfarmer
Well, you can't comfortably cover their legs with a blanket so if flies are
more attracted to regular blankets they still get bit more.

------
patall
It would be awesome if you could do this is a cowshed. Add a stripe projecting
light source in the resting area so cows can ruminate with less disturbance.

------
lonelappde
It seems a different group did the same research last year:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19212086](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19212086)

And if I recall this was also in the news several years ago.

------
orblivion
This sounds like an episode of Looney Tunes.

I wonder how long before the flies evolve to bother zebras?

------
ChuckMcM
Clearly the disruptive startup idea here is yoga pants for cows. Well, yoga
body suits. /s

I love the result. Given the farm automation for feeding, perhaps an automatic
paint job could be added to that system as well.

------
Ensorceled
So covering the cows half in white paint, halved the number of bites?

Seems like a large number of flaws in this study:

1\. This wasn't 100% so maybe flies avoided the painted cows and just went to
bite the non painted cows in the study. Would this work if the whole herd was
painted? I know from personal experience that the best mosquito repellant is
to bring a "city slicker" as bait but you need DEET if one isn't available.

2\. Maybe it's the paint and if you cover the entire cow the flies stay away
entirely?

3\. How long did this experiment run? Once they horseflies get hungry or
ending their season, they get more aggressive (they are getting aggressive
right now in Ontario)

~~~
oh_sigh
Seems like a large number of flaws in this post. Usually it's helpful to read
a study before pointing out flaws in it.

~~~
Ensorceled
1 flaw. Missed the part where the also had black painted cows. Still doesn't
cover the other 2 issues.

~~~
oh_sigh
Point 3 is also covered in the study.

------
svennek
Cowmouhflage?

~~~
lqet
Cow-moo-flage!

------
arkitaip
I wonder if a poncho would with the same pattern would have the same
effect...? brb registering ponchos4cows.com

~~~
Gys
If covering the cow helps, the pattern on the cover will not make much
difference? I assume covering itself is problematic and therefore (too)
expensive.

------
OJFord
Or, less bizarrely, presumably it also works if painted like a Friesian?

------
softwaredoug
Could this be applied to cut down on the drugs we need to give cattle?

------
buryat
Will it work for humans?

------
axegon
Camouflage for cows?

------
pvaldes
Nature always in the middle of our way. Is so annoying that we can't turn
Africa in a huge cow field... (roll eyes).

On the other way, milk fortified with Antimony white, or even better the sweet
white lead paint, would do surprising things to children health...

