Why did the cow have stripes? Because she didn't want to be spotted! All joking aside, a Japanese study found that when cows were painted with zebra-like stripes, they didn't get bitten by flies as much as the unpainted cows. They also didn't show fly-repelling behaviour such as head-shaking or tail-flicking. Researchers believe that the stripes confuse the flies' motion detection abilities preventing them from landing. I'll paint myself against mosquitoes!

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