By Stephen Beech

How the leopard really got its spots has finally been explained.

The new work builds on research conducted by British mathematician Alan Turing in the 1950s.

The new study by American scientists refines their previous theory of how animal patterns form and successfully recreates imperfections in natural designs, such as the irregular spots on a leopard .

They say the new mechanism, described in the journal Matter , could lead to materials that can respond to their environment, such as fabrics that change color on demand for camouflage.

Study lead researcher Dr. Ankur Gupta, an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder , said: “Imperfections are everywhere in nature.

"We proposed a simple idea that can explain how cells assemble to create the

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