Happy Birthday, Lauryn!!!!

Happy birthday, Lauryn.  You've finally escaped your teenage years.  Congratulations on making your parents feel old!

A month ago or so, somebody sent me an email with only one question:  Why do zebras have stripes?

Lauryn, for your birthday, I give you the stripes of a zebra.

1.  Zebras are black animals with white stripes, not white animals with black stripes.

2.    Stripes are vertical on the head, neck, forequarters and main body, but horizontal on the legs and rear end.

3.  No two zebras have the exact same stripe pattern, and zebras can identify individuals in the herd…useful in deciding if you like boy zebras or girl zebras.

4.     When injured, the stripes do not repair themselves…scars will be visible and will influence zebra choices in mating matters.

5.  The stripes are camouflage, which seems ridiculous to us, but their primary predator is a lion….and lions are color blind…and confuse zebras with tall grass.

6.  The stripes coincide with a fat pattern beneath the skin, thus serving as a thermoregulator for the zebra, meaning that the zebra can control it’s internal temperature thru the stripes.

7.  The disruptive color variation negatively affects the visual system of the Tsetse fly, a rather unsavory bug.

So Lauryn, I love you very much and am so glad you're in our family.  We think of you and pray for you all the time!  Happy birthday!!

Love, DAD