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Spotted and oddly striped zebras may be a warning for species’ future
Lindsay Patterson
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A plains zebra with a spot interrupting its stripes pauses in Rwanda s Akagera National Park in 2018.
Anyone can tell you that zebras have distinctive black and white stripes. But in some cases, these African equines sport unusual color patterns, such as large, black splotches or golden coats with light-colored stripes. Spotted zebras are appearing as well. In 2019 in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, scientists recorded a polka-dotted foal, with white spots covering its dark-brown body.
Such aberrations often caused by genetic mutations that alter the production of melanin, a natural pigment are generally rare among mammals. So biologist Brenda Larison found it striking that an unusually high number an estimated 5 percent of plains zebra living near Uganda’s Lake Mburo were abnormally striped. ....

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