What if it's just the white stripes (not the band)? Do white cows have the same number of flies? What if you paint them with black stripes?

Maybe those are answered in the article, but I'll never read it.

Yes. They had a control group with only black stripes along with an unpainted group. I would have to assume they also checked the paints for potential repellents, but I only skimmed the article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6776349/

I haven’t read the study, but most of these would need a placebo group, so divide the herd into thirds, one with no paint, one with stripes, and one fully painted white to get a baseline for each group. Also would be good to randomize which group each cow goes in each day so to rule out one cow who is especially tasty to flies.

I've not seen the study referenced, but if I were doing it I'd have cows I painted with white paint, white stripes, black paint, and a control I left unpainted.

A control group where they mix the colors together and paint them grey would answer that

What if you actually read the study before asking questions 😅😜🤔

What is the burger tie for? To repel hippies?

You're a hero.

FYI if this sort of study is your thing, Temple Grandin published her studies as a volume and they're quite good reading. More of them delve into human psychology than you'd think for someone who's famous for working with animals. Source: I paged through it while waiting in a book store

Yup. Large creatures knows better than to wear stripes.

now that the song is playing forcefully in my brain i'm going to make you suffer with me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KTsXHXMkJA

Can confirm, insects are drawn to brightness

I mean, we kind of hijacked evolution in favor of hypergrowth and ludicrous gazongas a long time ago.

In most places flies are more nuisances than actual threats to large mammals. But then, there are the tsé-tsé flies...

[Edit : Had previously written "horses" instead of "flies" by accident]

Sure, but there's also the secondary market of people who think it's hilarious to get a photo with a donkey painted like a zebra to trick tourists. Lean into it a bit, like wrestling, it could be fun.

This is no donkey painted like a zebra, it's a majestic hybrid zonkey. Just 5 dollars to take a photo, or 3 for $10.

Wait wait wait, I'm calling bullshit. I see no udders, nor any horns. That's obviously two people wearing a striped cow costume for Halloween, duh.