Are Zebras Black with White Stripes or White with Black Stripes?

Zebras are actually black with white stripes. All animals get their colors from pigments called melanin which are of two kinds - eumelanin gives a black to brown color which pheomelanin gives reddish to yellow hues. The cells that create this pigment, melanocytes have certain genes that control when the pigment is made. Once the pigment is made, it is shipped to the skin or hair to give the latter color. When scientists looked at zebra embryos developing, they found that all melanocytes had pigment creating genes were turned on. These genes were selectively turned off in areas designated to be white stripes! Underneath the black and white fur, a zebra’s skin is black. Melanocytes that give pigment to hair that differently controlled that melanocytes that give pigment to skin.