A couple of years ago a group of Japanese researchers dedicated themselves to paint stripes of zebra at cowsto check if so the number of flies is reduced. The experiment was a complete success.
Although it is still not very well known why, it has been proven that zebras attract less insects than other animals in its environment. It is believed that it is because Stingrays confuse insect landing mechanism. They can’t land on her body properly, so they’re left alone.
The Japanese researchers Kojima T, Oishi K, Matsubara Y, Uchiyama Y, and Fukushima Y came up with the idea of applying this anti-insect mechanism to the cows
Zebra stripes on cows against flies
The flies and the mosquitoes They cause numerous problems for cattle. They produce diseases and make cows be more restless, eat less, and produce less milk. The study estimates that only in the United States ranchers lose $2.2 billion a year because of the insects.
Pesticides are used to combat them, but they are toxic, expensive, and not always effective.
These researchers decided to try another system: they painted black and white stripes To six cows. For three days they photographed them at intervals, 24 hours a day, and patiently counted the number of insects, as well as the number of head or tail movements the cows made to get rid of them.
Then, for another three days, they painted the cows only black, with no stripes, to ensure that the insects or the cows were not affected by the paint itself, rather than the stripes.
As explained Real Clear Sciencethe results were surprising: the insects were barely 10% reduced with the black paint, but more than 60% with black and white stripes of the zebras. Cow movements were also reduced by 20%.
It is a system that it only takes five minutes to apply, does not pollute or is toxicand it really reduces flies, so cows have fewer diseases and being calmer, produce more milk.
The study conclude that more tests are needed with a larger number of cowsbut the results make it clear that paint cows with zebra stripes reduces flies by 60% and mosquitoes. Let’s see which farmer dares to do it…
