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npr:

The mottled spots giraffes are known for aren’t random, according to a new study that suggests the patterns are inherited maternally — and that they may impact the chances of a calf surviving its first few months of life.

The roundness and smoothness of a giraffe’s spots are inherited through its mother, wildlife biology researchers reported in the academic journal PeerJ last week.

Giraffe coat markings are more complex and variable than the eye suggests: The researchers studied 11 spot attributes in total. The researchers did not document any mother-offspring similarity between the number of spots and their area and perimeter.

The study has produced the first data of its kind. Scientists have previously hypothesized that variation in spot patterns may camouflage newborns against predators, and that the animals’ spots are conferred at random. One prominent biologist, Anne Dagg, described similarities between parents and offspring in a zoo population in 1968, but analysis and objective measurements of spot characteristics were lacking in wild giraffes until now.

Giraffes Inherit Spot Patterns From Their Mamas, Study Says

First photo: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/AFP/Getty Images

Second photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

This is such cool science! 

The researchers basically defined a bunch of different characteristics of giraffe spots – such as size, length of perimeter, smoothness, roundness, ect – and used an image program to compare the spots from mothers and their calves to see how similar the types of spots on the animals were. 

(Image from Lee et al., 2018)

The researchers don’t have any way to know for sure what benefits are conferred by inheritable spot patterns yet, the was some correlation between spot sizes and shapes and the survival rates of the calves. It’s possible that this is because certain types of coat patterns (called phenotypes) confer better camouflage than others, but they haven’t ruled out other aspects of survival that are influence by coat coloring.