Burchell's zebras, Rietvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa

© Richard Du Toit/Minden Picture

A dazzling sight. Burchell's zebras for International Zebra Day

It's International Zebra Day, and we're giving a shout-out to the flashiest animal on the African savanna. It's a day to raise awareness of these distinctive creatures and encourage measures to protect them and their habitat. This group of Burchell's zebras is hanging out at Rietvlei Nature Reserve in South Africa.

The most attention-grabbing feature of a zebra is, of course, those unique stripes. In recent years, researchers have found that the high-contrast patterns of zebra stripes seem to confuse horseflies as they approach, causing them to veer away or bounce off. Horseflies in Africa carry diseases that can be lethal to zebras, so the stripes do a lot more than just make them look fancy.