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Zebras do not wear striped pyjamas and other garments for the sake of camouflage---in case you didn't know, says a study.

"The most longstanding hypothesis for zebra striping is crypsis, or camouflaging, but until now the question has always been framed through human eyes," Amanda Melin, lead author of the study, said in a press release."We, instead, carried out a series of calculations through which we were able to estimate the distances at which lions and spotted hyenas, as well as zebras, can see zebra stripes under daylight, twilight, or during a moonless night."

In a Tanzania field, the team used digital photos, putting them through spatial and color filters, to check how zebras would appear to their peer zebras, as well as lions and spotted hyenas, which are their main predators. They then measured the width and light contrast of the stripes so that they could get an idea of the maximum distance they could be seen in when data was gathered regarding the visual abilities of the hyena, lion and zebra.

Scientists found that the stripes could not camouflage because the predators could see the stripes at "a range close enough that they likely already heard or smelled the zebras". Moreover, the zebras spend their days in plains and grasslands without trees, so they are easily spotted by the lions.

"The results from this new study provide no support at all for the idea that the zebra's stripes provide some type of anti-predator camouflaging effect," said Tim Caro, co-author of the study. "Instead, we reject this long-standing hypothesis that was debated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace."

The findings were published in the Jan. 22,2016 issue of PLOS One.