![]() ![]() ![]() It’s always surprising to see that their skin almost looks like it’s been tattooed: It has the same striped pattern as its fur! ![]() When we have to sedate a tiger to treat an injury or do dental work, we shave their fur. It’s not just their fur that’s inked with black stripes. Using this method, tiger experts estimate that only about 3,400 wild tigers remain across their Asian homeland. They use remote cameras to take pictures of the animals when they walk by. This allows researchers who study them in the wild to identify and count individual tigers. Every tiger has its own unique stripe pattern – and they aren’t the same on both sides! Mathias Appel/Wikimedia Commons They’re as distinct as human fingerprints. When you look at different tigers up close, as I do in my work, you’ll see that each of their stripe patterns is unique, just like a zebra’s. This helps it stay hidden in its dense jungle home. The Sumatran tiger subspecies has much narrower stripes than the others and has more of them. Stripes even vary among the six tiger subspecies. Kailash Kumbhkar/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY A Bengal tiger camouflaged among trees and foliage in India’s Kanha National Park. Tigers are solitary cats that rely on stealth and camouflage to survive. That’s important because these predators don’t hunt in groups, like a lion, or have the speed of a cheetah. They help break up the cat’s shape and size so it blends in with trees and tall grasses. Their vertical stripes, which range from brown to black, are an example of what biologists call disruptive colouration. The tiger’s markings also play an important role. To their eyes, the tiger’s fur isn’t bright orange: it looks green and matches the background. It helps them see better in dim light, but it also makes them vulnerable. Deer and other hoofed animals can’t see the full range of colours, much like a colourblind human. They’re helped by the limited vision of their preferred prey. Fennell et al, Journal of The Royal Society Interface, CC BY Deer can process only green and blue, which makes them colourblind (left). The human eye can process red, green and blue, so to us, a tiger looks orange (right). They are carnivores - they eat meat - and they rely on stealth to hunt successfully. Since tigers are apex predators at the top of the food chain, they don’t need to hide from animals that might eat them. Camouflage - or “cryptic coloration” - allows them to hide, undetected. In my work as a zoological veterinarian, I’ve seen up close how various animals’ coats, feathers, colours, spots and stripes have evolved to either help them attract a mate or disguise them. So how does such a brightly coloured animal stay concealed well enough to hunt successfully? Whether they live in grasslands, forests or jungles, wild tigers have deep orange coats with dark stripes. When tigers stalk their prey, usually in the murky light of dusk or dawn, they are nearly invisible. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to do tigers have stripes? – Vidit M., age 8, New Delhi, India Ever know someone with different colored skin patches or different color eyes? They’re a chimera.Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. That “chimera” mix may sound scary, but it is just a rare occurrence of fertilization. Here’s some Google image results if you’re so inclined. The stripes can become visible in genetic “chimeras”, people who have mixes of two genetic backgrounds (really two separate fertilizations) in their body. They are probably a remnant of how our cell growth is organized back when we are an embryo, with different “stripes” of cells growing along carefully delineated patterns. They don’t follow the lines of nerves, arteries, veins, muscles, or correspond with the endocrine system. These lines don’t correspond with any other system in the body. They also run along the face above and below the eyes and over the ears, looking a little like painted-on glasses. On the chest and upper back they rise in a swirl before dipping down to meet in a deep “v” along the spine and the middle of the chest. They curve around the sides, like tiger stripes. Apparently humans are hiding stripes in our skin, they are just invisible.īlaschko Lines follow the same pattern on all people. At the very least a well-behaved house cat. You’ve got a tiger inside! Or maybe a zebra. Humans have stripes and you just can’t see them ![]()
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