this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
889 points (99.7% liked)

Science Memes

19432 readers
747 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 252 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they don’t know or like each other. They are not a uniform group with a leader. Horses on the other hand do have authorities and followers among them. And humans can hijack the role of the leader.

CGPGrey: The Real Reason We Don’t Ride Zebras (6:23)

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 130 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they don’t know or like each other.

Zebra's don't like anyone, and they're not afraid to show it. Repeatedly.

[–] M137@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

And donkeys like only one person and will absolutely fuck up anyone or anything that tries to hurt that person or the donkey itself.

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 30 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds.

says a lot about 4chan, the penny arcade GIFT theory, etc

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 51 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

With how Facebook forces real names, the idea that being anonymous has any influence where or not someone is a fuckwad had been debunked.

[–] AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social 46 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's not the anonimity that makes people fuckwads. It's the lack of immediate consequences. A fuckwad won't get a punch in the face for what they say on facebook, hence they feel they can say anything and be a fuckwad.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 38 points 3 weeks ago

"Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it", Mike Tyson

Regardless of how you feel about Tyson, Truth is Truth.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] stenAanden@feddit.dk 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

This makes me wonder... How much of what he says is just conjecture? Do we ACTUALLY know with good certainty that zebras can't be domesticated due to their nature? Or is it just a hypothesis/theory that has reached widespread popularity?

I have heard that zebras (along with other African animals) can't be domesticated because they have evolved to live among humans, when we were still man-apes. But that maybe that's just conjecture too.

Note how he have no sources in his video or description. And his comparison to chickens, cows, sheep and cats don't seem to make much sense. The relation between humans and chickens/cows/sheep is markedly different from that of horses. Do wild fowl really have family structures? Cats don't yet they are still docile among humans.

Edit: even if we really can't do we know the reason why?

[–] cattywampas@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, people have tried to domesticate zebras before and they're just too ornery.

[–] stenAanden@feddit.dk 8 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

But what if we spent longer time doing it? Like centuries, like with most other domesticated animals.

[–] stray@pawb.social 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm not sure why you've been downvoted because you absolutely could domesticate them given sufficient time and consistent selective breeding. You could turn them into crabs if you wanted to. The trouble is that they don't have a very social disposition, so no one is motivated to dedicating their entire bloodline to the project. Most domestication happened kind of on accident as we developed symbiotic or exploitative relationships with various species.

[–] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

+1 for carcinization reference

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Domesticated animals generally start out already being somewhat agreeable. Like dogs hung around us, and work in a pack mentality, horses same thing, cats same thing. That's why we could domesticate racoons or some rodents if we wanted to.

Zebras are assholes and hate everyone

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 weeks ago

Might take more than centuries, but yes.

We have a rescue dog from Korea as well as some neighbours ( not a standard breed, but a Korean Village dog, they basically live alongside humans as a breed but developed their own way). They are much different than "normal" dogs. They are more like cats. Their way on their terms. Like other dogs, don't enjoy humans much. So even though they are domesticated, they still show the old lineage of being independent. My dogs idea of a good time is never chasing a stick or ball, but finding the highest vantage point at a park and watching everyone. A carryover from watching the plains from the hillside, or something.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 16 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] BigBenis@lemmy.world 78 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

The Cow says: Moo!

The Horse says: Neigh!

The Zebra says: I ain't nobody's bitch!

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] TomMasz@piefed.social 65 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Horse-shaped, but definitely not a horse.

[–] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 weeks ago

Punk horse, running IDK chimpanzee firmware?

[–] X@piefed.world 47 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

“Motherfucker, do you see the way I look?! Shit ain’t for the insta, that’s for sure. I’m quite visible to you so you have a long enough time to be getting far the fuck away from me.”

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I thought the stripes were actually camouflage and they’re just monochromatic because the things they’re hiding from have poor color vision.

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Latest theory I heard was:

A 2014 study found a correlation between striping and overlap with horse and tsetse fly populations and activity. Other studies have found that zebras are rarely targeted by these insect species. Caro and colleagues (2019) studied captive zebras and horses and observed that neither could deter flies from a distance, but zebra stripes kept flies from landing, both on zebras and horses dressed in zebra print coats. […] White or light stripes painted on dark bodies have also been found to reduce fly irritations in both cattle and humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra

[–] pulsey@feddit.org 17 points 3 weeks ago

brb getting a full body tattoo

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 3 weeks ago

The truth is we don't actually know because the zebras don't want us to:

So, the question why zebras have stripes have proven very difficult and not without risks – Stephen Cobb has been bitten in the arm and admitted to hospital twice. Despite the extra vigour of recent work, the answer remains inconclusive.

[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

There's some accounts throughout history, but humans generally leave them alone. They're aggressive creatures surrounded by even more aggressive killing machines. So it stands to reason that an animal in that environment would be pretty tough to tame.

It has to do with social structures from what I read a while ago.

Horses have a hierarchical structure and zebras don't.

[–] HejMedDig@feddit.dk 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What you don't spot on that picture is the front "zebra" in the back, is a painted horse. Apparently that helped the zebras remain more calm

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 21 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Okay, but what about the moose?

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 72 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Moose can't ride zebras either

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 24 points 3 weeks ago

Brother, a moose can ride whatever it damn well pleases. But I'd rather not get into the personal stuff, if you don't mind.

[–] atomicorange@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Møøse bites kan be pretti nasti

My grandmother knew a guy who raised a couple moose and used them to plow his fields

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 15 points 3 weeks ago

Other zebras: good luck with that, bye!

[–] stenAanden@feddit.dk 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I honestly wonder if we actually COULD domesticate zebras but it would taking centuries or millennia. Just like other domesticated species.

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

No. Zebras don't have a herd hierarchy we can exploit. With horses you pick out the lead horse, tame it and boom, the whole herd follows you.
With zebras you get one zebra, if you're very lucky. More likely you'll get kicked and bitten.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Like African wild cats! You'd just get some hell monster that doesn't do what it's told and attacks you at random.

[–] LongDickJonsson@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Isn't that basically all cats

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago

In the 1980s, in Tijuana, tourist kids could ride horses painted like zebras.

[–] boaratio@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

One of them is killing a freaking alligator.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 9 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah they survive for a reason. They’re very tough.

load more comments
view more: next ›