There’s a reason fashion designers look to animal prints for inspiration. Creatures have evolved a dizzying array of patterns: stripes, spots, diamonds, chevrons, hexagons and even mazelike designs.

More than 70 years ago, mathematician Alan Turing proposed a mechanism that explained how patterns could emerge from bland uniformity. Scientists are still using his model—and adding new twists—to ...

From tiger stripes to leopard spots, the animal world is full of distinctive and intricate patterns. In a new study, CU Boulder scientists refined their previous theory of how animal patterns form and ...

Ever wondered how leopards wear perfect dots or zebra's stripes? Scientists now know that patterns are not random at all. They are guided by nature’s chemistry, mathematics and tiny skin cells. These ...

Spots and stripes can be found everywhere in the animal kingdom. From the savannahs of Africa to the coastal waters off southern Australia, countless species boast distinctive markings. For decades, ...

The beautiful coat patterns of giraffes are individually unique and don't change with age, but their origins and purpose were a mystery. A new study found wild giraffe spot pattern traits were ...

Why do giraffes have spots? And what governs their shape and pattern—are they inherited? Perhaps surprisingly, these are riddles that scientists haven’t yet solved. This lack of certainty led ...

Some patterns arise simply or randomly, but others develop via complex, precise interactions of pattern-generating systems. Their beauty aside, the intricacies of these systems are inspiring the ...