Scientists have confirmed what we already knew, and then some, about Zebras and their fascinating stripes.

According to a University of California - Davis press release, the stripes are first and foremost a defense mechanism against various types of biting flies. Experiments showed that the flies were primary drivers for the evolutionary development of stripes on several different species of horses, zebras and asses.

Still, the newest explanation for the stripes is the latest item on a list started 120 years ago when Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace debated the issue. Other practical uses for a zebra's stripes include protection against biting flies, camouflage, visual confusion for predators, heat management and even social functions.

"I was amazed by our results," lead author Tim Caro, a professor of wildlife biology at UC - Davis, said in the release. "Again and again, there was greater striping on areas of the body in those parts of the world where there was more annoyance from biting flies."

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers took a systematic approach for their study. They eliminated the other four hypotheses and were left with protection against biting flies.

First, the team tracked seven different species and subspecies related to the zebra while analyzing the thickness, intensity and location of their stripes. Next, they used geographic mapping to find out where these animals overlapped with horseflies, deer flies and tsetse flies.

Deer flies and horseflies were not easy to track in Africa, unlike tsetse flies. However, the researchers found a strong correlation between where zebras are and the ideal environment for deer and horseflies to breed.

Since zebras' hair is shorter than most horse-like animals, they are more susceptible to biting flies. The striped fur is an evolutionary defense mechanism to ward off these disease-carrying bugs. Now, Caro's team will turn its attention to figuring out why biting flies hate black and white stripes.

"No one knew why zebras have such striking coloration," Caro said. "But solving evolutionary conundrums increases our knowledge of the natural world and may spark greater commitment to conserving it."