The functional significance of striping in rodents

Rodents constitute a large proportion of extant mammal species and are mostly a uniform brown-gray coloration to avoid detection by predators. A minority, however, have longitudinal dorsal stripes, the function of which is unknown. Using a comparative approach, we explored whether striping in rodents is a form of background matching, an example of dazzle coloration, a social signal, or a signal to avoid hybridization with sympatric congeners. We found some evidence that striping is associated with small species, diurnality, and raptor, and marginally with owl predation, suggesting it could be a form of dazzle coloration interfering with accurate interception by aerial predators approaching from above. There was no evidence that stripes are used in communication between conspecifics or for avoidance of hybridization. Our study provides the beginning of a functional underpinning to developmental studies of pattern formation in mammals.