This also helps human researchers, because it enables them to track particular zebras in the wild. As there are some changes in the pattern, so do each zebra have an individual number of stripes. Some zebras have thin, closely spaced stripes, whereas, others have broad, widely spaced stripes. Zebra stripes are unique to the animal and have different patterns. A zebra mare and her foal can keep track of each other in the large herd, for example, and a zebra can very quickly distinguish its own herd from another. The number of stripes varies between individual animals. Zoologists believe this is how zebras distinguish who's who in a zebra herd. Stripe patterns are like zebra fingerprints: Every zebra has a slightly different arrangement. So do zebra stripes confuse zebras as much as they confuse lions? Oddly enough, while making zebras indistinguishable to other animals, zebra stripes actually help zebras recognize one another. The lion's inability to distinguish zebras also makes it more difficult for it to target and track weaker zebras in the herd. It's hard for the lion to even recognize which way each zebra is moving: Imagine the difference in pursuing one animal and charging into an amorphous blob of animals moving every which way. The lion has trouble picking out any one zebra, and so it doesn't have a very good plan of attack. This is confusing to the lion, who sees a large, moving, striped mass instead of many individual zebras. When all the zebras keep together as a big group, the pattern of each zebra's stripes blends in with the stripes of the zebras around it. Even with their camouflage pattern, it's highly unlikely a large gathering of zebras would be able to escape a lion's notice, but their stripes help them use this large size to their advantage. Zebras usually travel in large groups, in which they stay very close to one another. This benefit may help an individual zebra in some situations, but the more significant means of protection has to do with zebra herds.
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