Now that you mention "not remotely connected to tech" and "black and white" . . .
I like the introduction section of this paper (basically speculating "How the Zebra Got His Stripes") as a modern descendant correcting some of the misconceptions from Rudyard Kipling's How the Leopard Got His Spots[0].
Especially a tale of an imaginary past when leopards and men had not yet been magically given their recognized colorings at the time.
But Zebra and Giraffe already had the patterns we know today:
Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.
'Now watch,' said the Zebra and the Giraffe. 'This is the way it's done. One—two—three! And where's your breakfast?'
Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest.
'Hi! Hi!' said the Ethiopian. 'That's a trick worth learning. Take a lesson by it, Leopard. You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap in a coal-scuttle.'
'Ho! Ho!' said the Leopard. 'Would it surprise you very much to know that you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of coals?'
I like the disclaimer Disney puts up on some of its streaming items - it's something like
"This content stereotypes some peoples or cultures - it was wrong then and now but we are keeping it here as a historical document (and to spark conversation)"
(If you have Disney+ go look for the original Dumbo)
I think people have always known that "the zebra (or anybody else) can't change his stripes", but its stripes can change on him (over time). Ages before the concepts of genetics or evolution, they still knew the stripes had to come from somewhere.
And the latest findings here can be convincing to an extent, but not entirely conclusive.
So as it stands nobody still knows for sure how the zebra got its stripes.
I like the introduction section of this paper (basically speculating "How the Zebra Got His Stripes") as a modern descendant correcting some of the misconceptions from Rudyard Kipling's How the Leopard Got His Spots[0].
Especially a tale of an imaginary past when leopards and men had not yet been magically given their recognized colorings at the time.
But Zebra and Giraffe already had the patterns we know today:
Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.
'Now watch,' said the Zebra and the Giraffe. 'This is the way it's done. One—two—three! And where's your breakfast?'
Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest.
'Hi! Hi!' said the Ethiopian. 'That's a trick worth learning. Take a lesson by it, Leopard. You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap in a coal-scuttle.'
'Ho! Ho!' said the Leopard. 'Would it surprise you very much to know that you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of coals?'
[0]Outdated literature not safe for all audiences, as always. https://www.owleyes.org/text/just-so-stories/read/how-the-le...