Most tigers live in forests or grasslands, for which their camouflage is ideally suited, and where it is easy to hunt prey that is faster or more agile.
It seems likely that the function of a tiger’s stripes is camouflage, serving to hide the animal from its prey. Most tigers live in forests or grasslands, for which their camouflage is ideally suited, and where it is easy to hunt prey that is faster or more agile. In the wild, even in semi-open habitats, the striped coat seems to break up the body outline, and the cat almost fades from view.
Similarly, its dark, golden orange coat looks as if it would stand out like a beacon against a background of tropical green, but it blends into the forest patterns of sunlight and shadow, perfect camouflage for this large stalking predator. Few large animals have color vision as capable as that of humans, so the color is not as great of a problem as one might suppose. Tigers have red color vision.
• Image | © Mathias Appel, Public Domain, (CC0 1.0)
• Sources | (Tilson & Nyhus, 2010; World Animal Foundation, Tiger, Tiger Fact Sheet)
