Question: why are zebras striped?

Joanna Cruden answered on 21 Jun 2012:

There seems to be a couple of reasons, one is for camouflage from predators, it is also very good at deflecting about 70% of the bodies heat, when they herd together the mass of stripes confuse predators, but another more recent suggestion is that in studies scientists found that dark horses attracted flies more than light coloured horses because white coats reflect unpolarised light which is not attractive to horse flies, and they found that black and white striped were the least attractive colouring for biting insects, if you want to read more check out this site for more details:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/why-zebras-have-black-and-white-stripes/228718-11.html

Of course someone else may come along and think of another reason and research that, the beauty of animals is we never know all the answers and when we think we have found the right answer we discover it was not the full answer!