8/17/2023 0 Comments Zebras have stripesSimilarly, the lion’s skeletal and muscle structure are very similar to the tiger’s (both are in the genus Panthera), but no one would mistake the striped tiger for a lion. They belong, together with asses, in the genus Equus and their internal organs, skeleton, and muscles are remarkably similar. No one would confuse a zebra and a horse based on outer appearance, and of course, they inhabit different environments. Twentieth-century Swiss zoologist Adolf Portmann pointed out that in many closely related species there is more generic sameness in the hidden inner organs and greater species specificity in the external visual appearance (Portmann 1967). The lower part of the legs can also have horizontal stripes, which are very narrow. On the rump the horizontal stripes are broad and become narrower on the legs. As they approach the animal’s rear end, each of the black stripes narrows to a tip so that the rear end is more white than black. In front of and above the rear legs, the wide stripes begin on the belly in vertical orientation, then curve toward the horizontal on the rump. In the middle of the body the striping pattern changes abruptly, and yet there is no break. Horizontal striping is stronger in the rear of the animal and in its lower legs, while vertical striping dominates in the front part of the torso, neck, and head. Overall, there is an interplay between horizontal and vertical striping in the body. The side of the head has stripes that are perpendicular to the length of the head and curve to converge with those length- wise stripes to create a wonderfully dynamic pattern. The stripes curve around the eyes and the base of the ears. In the neck and head the animal has greatest freedom of movement - turning down to graze, moving up or from side to side to look and listen.īetween the eyes there are long narrow stripes that end in the dark snout they broaden at the height of the eyes and narrow to the snout and again at the top of the head. The striping pattern is most complex and refined in the zebra’s head, where the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are centered. The descriptions that follow can only point to what needs to be experienced, so please look at the photos to fill out what the text hints at. We can consider the striping pattern from the perspective of what I will call biological aesthetics: we look closely, moving through the details in such a way that their interrelations and connections with different features of the body and the animal’s activity begin to show themselves. When mesmerized by the overall impression of this striped animal, we may fail to perceive consciously what an organic work of art the striping pattern is.
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