Scientists found the stripes reduced how many times flies bit the cows
They say a zebra can’t change its stripes, but cows can benefit from having some painted onto them.
A team of researchers from Japan started putting tape on beef cattle and painting them with stripes in 2019 to see if the change in appearance would reduce how many times flies bit the cows.
In total, the scientists used six cows.
Two had black and white stripes, two had black stripes only, and two had no stripes.
The results showed flies were less likely to land and bite the cows resembling zebras.
“We found that painting zebra-like stripes on cows can decrease the incidence of biting flies landing on individuals by 50%,” the researchers wrote. “We also found that the reduced landings of biting flies coincide with a reduction in defensive behaviors in cows.”
The unpainted cows received around 110 bites in 30 minutes while the zebra-striped cows had fewer than 60 bites.
Fast forward to September 2025 and this work received a Nobel Prize in biology.
Actually, the research received an Ig Nobel Prize – a satirical award handed out since 1991 by the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine.
The biology award is handed out around the 40 minute mark of the video.
The Ig Nobel prizes “honor achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think.”
While the award is partly in jest, the troubles associated with biting flies are real.
Research from 2012 published in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that between 2005 and 2009, the economic impact of biting flies on the U.S. dairy and beef industries was about $2.2 billion per year.
Though it could be difficult for a large livestock operation to paint every cow, the work proves alternative methods are possible.
“This award serves as motivation for us to continue striving for excellence,” Tomoki Kojima, one of the researchers, told an audience in Boston during his acceptance speech on Sept. 18.
During his speech, his colleagues pestered him with fake flies.
To combat this, Kojima removed his suit jacket to reveal a zebra-striped shirt, which ended the fly attack.
Here are some other Ig Nobel Prize winners related to food and ag.
In 2004, Jillian Clarke from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences received an Ig Nobel Prize in public health for studying the five-second rule when it comes to dropping food.
Dropping gummy bears and cookies onto tiles, she found that after five seconds both food items picked up bacteria.
In 2005, James Watson from Massey University in New Zealand won a prize in agricultural history for his work researching exploding pants.
In the 1930s, farmers in New Zealand experienced their pants exploding while trying to control ragwort.
At the time, farmers were spraying sodium chlorate (trade names include Chlorax, Drop-Leaf, and Harvest-Aid).
When the herbicide got onto a farmer’s pants, it reacted with the wool and cotton of the clothes, causing the clothing to smolder.
A 2005 episode of the TV show Mythbusters included four experiments related to this piece of New Zealand ag history.
And in 2006, researcher Bart Knols won the Ig Nobel Prize in biology for showing female malaria mosquitoes are equally attracted to the scent of limburger cheese and human feet.