According to multiple sources, including HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Britannica, Live Science, Science ABC, and Mental Floss, zebras are black with white stripes. All of a zebras fur, both black and white, grows from follicles that contain melanocyte cells, which produce melanin, the pigment that gives color to skin and hair. In zebras, chemical messengers determine which melanocytes deliver pigment to which section of fur, thus creating the zebras black and white pattern. Whats important about zebras is that their white fur represents an absence of melanin; white is not its own pigment. Since white stripes only exist because pigment is denied, black is understood to be the "default" color of a zebra. Beneath all that fur, zebras have black skin, too. A shaved zebra, without any stripes, could be almost unrecognizable as an all-black animal.