Why are zebras striped? It is one of the most obvious questions to ask, but nobody seems to have the right answer. If you look at a zebra in the zoo you will have noticed that the striped patterns make it very conspicuous and thus it can hardly be thought of as a good camouflage. But there is one theory which says that the bold stripes actually protects the zebra in the wild. From a distance, across the grassy plains on which the zebra roams, a predator may not think that the stripes belong to an animal. Thus the zebra is saved.