Gene that gives animal stripes found

In Rudyard Kipling's fertile imagination, the first tiger got its stripes as punishment for killing a buck during a time of peace.

Many other folk tales have posited fanciful reasons for animals' stripes or spots, but no one has known the truth ... until now.

And it is all thanks to the African striped mouse.

By studying these creatures, Harvard University scientists have discovered the gene that gives them stripes.

Alx3, the same gene that helps to sculpt the heads and faces of mice, is seven times more active in light stripes than dark ones.

The team found the same thing in chipmunks and even a zebra.

"We had a sample size of one, though," said study leader, biologist Hopi Hoekstra. "But it is certainly possible that this is also involved in more diverse stripe patterns."

"This study provides exciting new insights into the age-old question of 'how do mammals get stripes?' said Larissa Patterson ofUniversity of Washington, US.

Understanding the intricate mechanisms by which dark and light stripes develop is important to figuring out how evolution and development work, said Tim Caro of University of California.