How It Works
Haltair provides people with a new way of preventing mosquito and other fly bites without the use of chemicals like DEET or Permethrin. First described by Dr. Tim Caro of UC Davis and the University of Bristol, there is a growing field of scientific evidence that shows that black and white zebra striped surfaces deter flies from landing on them, thus preventing them from biting.
Imagine that you are flying and want to land. Now imagine that your landing pad is a moving target with stripes of varying patterns. Enough to make you queasy? That’s what it’s like for mosquitoes and other biting flies trying to land on zebra stripes.
There are several different hypotheses on how this visual phenomenon works. Ultimately the jury is still out on exactly how zebra stripes deter biting flies, but the why is clear. Biting flies are vectors for diseases that affect zebras just like they are with humans. Fewer bites means lower chances of contracting a harmful disease.
Across the world, scientists have shown that zebra stripes reduce the amount of biting flies that land on striped surfaces by 50-90%. That’s a lot fewer itchy bites! More importantly, that’s a significant reduction in contracting a mosquito borne disease like Malaria.
You can also check out this article that shows how indigenous peoples from Australia, Africa, and New Guinea have used body painted stripes for thousands of years to repel biting flies.
Check out all of these studies and articles showing that zebra stripes reduce biting fly bites. We also highly encourage you to do your own research on the subject.
Scientific Articles
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2020.1521
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210831
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944200613000974?via%3Dihub
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/zebra-stripes-confuse-biting-flies-causing-them-abort-their-landings
In the News
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191031-the-truth-behind-why-zebras-have-stripes
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/zebra-stripes-protect-against-flies-now-we-know-how
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/us/cows-painted-zebras-avoid-flies-scn-trnd/index.html