But 19th-century European colonists faced big problems as they tried to control the sprawling African territories they'd claimed, one of which was biting flies.

但是，19 世紀的歐洲殖民者在試圖控制他們宣稱擁有的廣袤非洲領土時遇到了大問題，其中之一就是叮人的蒼蠅。

These pests could extract half a liter of horse blood daily while transmitting fatal diseases that devastated domestic horses, leaving colonial powers reliant on thousands of humans to transport goods. Zebras, however, appeared immune to the same pitfalls as horses.

這些害蟲每天可以抽取半升馬的血液，同時傳播致命的疾病，對家養馬造成嚴重破壞，使得殖民國家不得不依靠成千上萬的人來運輸貨物。然而，斑馬似乎不會像馬一樣受到同樣的危害。

The German Empire deemed them predestined for the use of military needs and undertook the task of domesticating them.

德意志帝國認為它們註定要用於滿足軍事需要，並承擔起了馴化它們的任務。

Around 1900, former German colonial army officer Fritz Bronsart von Schellendorf placed himself at the mission's helm.

1900 年左右，前德國殖民軍軍官弗裡茨-布朗薩特-馮-謝倫多夫（Fritz Bronsart von Schellendorf）自任使團團長。

But he severely underestimated the project, and soon enough, the question of why domesticating zebras was proving so difficult joined another long-standing mystery— namely, why zebras had such conspicuously striped coats— a matter that perplexed prominent scientists and went on to fuel decades of debate. To understand zebras' more distinctive qualities, we should start with the big picture.

但他嚴重低估了這一項目，很快，馴化斑馬為何如此困難的問題就與另一個長期存在的謎團聯繫在了一起--即斑馬的皮毛為何有如此明顯的條紋--這一問題令著名科學家們困惑不已，並引發了數十年的爭論。要了解斑馬與眾不同的特質，我們應該從大處著眼。

Zebras belonged to the same family as horses and donkeys.

斑馬與馬和驢同屬一個家族。

After their lineage entered Africa, they evolved into the three zebra species that exist today, living in social herds in eastern and southern Africa, grazing on grasses, and evading fierce predators. Scientists have speculated extensively about zebra striping, but not all theories have held up.

它們的後代進入非洲後，進化成了今天的三種斑馬，在非洲東部和南部過著群居生活，吃草，躲避凶猛的捕食者。 科學家們對斑馬的條紋進行了廣泛的推測，但並非所有理論都能成立。

For example, the hypothesis that striping has a social function seems unlikely, because while every zebra does have unique patterning, other equids have no trouble identifying individuals in their herd without it.

例如，條紋具有社會功能的假設似乎不太可能，因為雖然每隻斑馬都有獨特的條紋，但其他馬科動物在識別群中沒有條紋的個體時也不會遇到困難。

Some have theorized that the pattern helps zebras stay cool in direct sunlight, with the heat differential between their black and white stripes generating cooling air currents.

有人推測，這種圖案有助於斑馬在陽光直射下保持涼爽，因為黑白條紋之間的熱量差會產生冷卻氣流。

But when scientists tracked the air movements around sunlit zebra hides, they saw no such effect. Many have also wondered if the patterning works as camouflage or somehow confuses or dazzles predators, perhaps evoking a tangle of tree trunks or creating uncertainty around where the zebra's body starts and ends.

但是，當科學家追蹤陽光下斑馬皮毛周圍的空氣流動時，卻沒有發現這種效果。許多人還在想，這種花紋是否能起到偽裝的作用，或者以某種方式迷惑或迷惑捕食者，也許會讓人聯想到糾纏在一起的樹幹，或者讓人不確定斑馬身體的起點和終點在哪裡。

But hyenas and lions probably see zebras as gray until they're in close range, where they can also hear and smell them.

但是，鬣狗和獅子在靠近斑馬之前，可能會把斑馬看成灰色的，因為它們也能聽到和聞到斑馬的氣味。

Lions can likely also identify their outlines just as easily as they can other, less flamboyantly patterned prey.

獅子很可能也能像辨認其他花紋不那麼華麗的獵物一樣輕易地辨認出它們的輪廓。

And given how frequently lions capture zebras, it doesn't seem like they're all that confused. One hypothesis that does pack a lot of promise concerns those biting flies that horses couldn't handle.

而且，獅子捕捉斑馬的頻率如此之高，看來它們也不是那麼糊塗。有一個假設很有希望，那就是馬無法對付的那些叮人的蒼蠅。

Zebras have shorter hair than other grazers in their regions, possibly making them more vulnerable to the flies' probing proboscis.

斑馬的毛髮比其所在地區的其他食草動物短，這可能使它們更容易受到蒼蠅探頭的攻擊。

So perhaps striping somehow acts protectively.

是以，剝離或許在某種程度上起到了保護作用。

Testing this hypothesis, one experiment found that a certain kind of biting fly avoided horses covered in striped and checked rugs, compared to those in solid gray.

為了驗證這一假設，一項實驗發現，與純灰色地毯相比，某種咬人的蒼蠅會避開鋪有條紋和格子地毯的馬匹。

Another documented biting flies circling horses, zebras, and horses clad in zebra print equally, but landing on zebra-y areas only about a quarter as much.

另一項記錄顯示，叮咬馬匹的蒼蠅同樣在馬匹、斑馬和身著斑馬紋的馬匹周圍盤旋，但落在斑馬紋區域的蒼蠅數量僅為馬匹的四分之一。

Biting flies also generally approached zebras at higher speeds, and didn't decelerate as usual, causing clumsy overshoots and crash landings.

咬人蒼蠅還通常以更高的速度接近斑馬，而不是像往常一樣減速，導致笨拙的過沖和迫降。

It seems that zebra stripes and other graphic patterns interfere with how biting flies process visual information to position themselves when landing, limiting their blood-sucking and disease-transmitting opportunities. But zebras aren't just good at keeping biting flies off their backs.

斑馬條紋和其他圖案似乎干擾了咬人蒼蠅在著陸時處理視覺資訊的方式，從而限制了它們吸血和傳播疾病的機會。不過，斑馬不僅能讓咬人的蒼蠅遠離自己。

Around 1900, Bronzart founded an experimental ranch near Mount Kilimanjaro to capture and cross-breed zebras with other equids.

1900 年左右，布隆扎特在乞力馬扎羅山附近建立了一個實驗牧場，捕捉斑馬並將其與其他馬類雜交。

Things didn't go as planned, in part because zebras have a robust set of defensive fight-and-flight adaptations.

事與願違，部分原因是斑馬有一套強大的打鬥和飛行防禦適應能力。

Most are capable of running within an hour of birth, and they're equipped with fierce bites and kicks strong enough to kill a lion.

它們中的大多數在出生後一小時內就能奔跑，而且它們的咬合力和踢擊力足以殺死一頭獅子。

Bronzart's operation was also unprepared to meet zebras' needs.

Bronzart 的營運也沒有做好滿足斑馬需求的準備。

Those Bronzart did gather, which he paid indigenous people to wrangle, couldn't produce enough milk for their calves.

布朗札特花了錢僱土著人來馴養這些小牛犢，但這些小牛犢產不出足夠的奶。

Within a single year, Bronzart had burned through a five-year budget, and dozens of the zebras he held in captivity were dead.

一年之內，布隆扎特就花光了五年的預算，他圈養的幾十頭斑馬也死了。

Attempts at zebra domestication had failed miserably, leaving those rare instances of zebra-taming largely to black-and-white history.

馴化斑馬的嘗試以慘敗告終，那些罕見的馴化斑馬的事例基本上成為黑白歷史。