""Body-painting began long before humans started to wear clothes. There are archaeological finds that include markings on the walls of caves where Neanderthals lived. They suggest that they had been body-painted with earth pigments such as ochre," says Susanne Åkesson.
The research team has previously observed that the zebra's stripes act as protection against horseflies. It is also known that pale fur, on horses for example, can provide protection, in contrast to dark fur. The discovery won the IgNobel Prize in Physics in 2016. In the new study, the team has taken the research a step further and examined plastic models that are the same size as adult humans.
For the experiments, which were conducted in Hungary, the researchers painted three plastic models of humans: one dark, one dark with pale stripes and one beige. They then covered the three models with a layer of insect glue. The dark model attracted ten times more horseflies than the striped model, and the beige model attracted twice as many as the striped one."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190117122711.htm
The research team has previously observed that the zebra's stripes act as protection against horseflies. It is also known that pale fur, on horses for example, can provide protection, in contrast to dark fur. The discovery won the IgNobel Prize in Physics in 2016. In the new study, the team has taken the research a step further and examined plastic models that are the same size as adult humans.
For the experiments, which were conducted in Hungary, the researchers painted three plastic models of humans: one dark, one dark with pale stripes and one beige. They then covered the three models with a layer of insect glue. The dark model attracted ten times more horseflies than the striped model, and the beige model attracted twice as many as the striped one."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190117122711.htm