Do Tigers Have Striped Skin?

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Why practice tigers take stripes? – Vidit M., age 8, New Delhi, India

When tigers stalk their casualty, usually in the murky low-cal of dusk or dawn, they are near invisible. Whether they alive in grasslands, forests or jungles, wild tigers accept deep orange coats with dark stripes. So how does such a brightly colored creature stay concealed well enough to hunt successfully?

The answer: camouflage!

Green tigers?

In my work equally a zoological veterinarian, I've seen up close how various animals' coats, feathers, colors, spots and stripes accept evolved to either help them attract a mate or disguise them. Camouflage – or "cryptic coloration" – allows them to hide, undetected.

Since tigers are apex predators at the top of the nutrient chain, they don't need to hide from animals that might consume them. They are carnivores – they swallow meat – and they rely on stealth to chase successfully.

photo of tiger showing how a human would see it and how a deer would see it — The human eye tin can procedure red, green and blue, so to usa, a tiger looks orange (right). Deer can process only green and blue, which makes them colorblind (left). J. G. Fennell et al, Periodical of The Royal Society Interface, CC By

They're helped by the limited vision of their preferred casualty. Deer and other hoofed animals can't come across the full range of colors, much similar a colorblind human.

Information technology helps them see meliorate in dim light, but it likewise makes them vulnerable. To their eyes, the tiger'due south fur isn't bright orange: information technology looks green and matches the background.

Hidden in plain sight

The tiger's markings also play an of import role. Their vertical stripes, which range from chocolate-brown to black, are an example of what biologists telephone call disruptive coloration. They help pause up the true cat'south shape and size so information technology blends in with trees and alpine grasses.

That'southward important because these predators don't hunt in groups, like a lion, or have the speed of a cheetah. Tigers are alone cats that rely on stealth and camouflage to survive.

A Bengal tiger camouflaged among copse and leafage in Republic of india'southward Kanha National Park. Kailash Kumbhkar/Wikimedia Eatables, CC By

Stripes fifty-fifty vary among the six tiger subspecies. The Sumatran tiger subspecies has much narrower stripes than the others and has more of them. This helps it stay hidden in its dense jungle home.

Unique as a fingerprint

When yous look at different tigers up shut, as I practice in my work, you'll run across that each of their stripe patterns is unique, just similar a zebra's. No two are the same. They're as distinct every bit human fingerprints.

Every tiger has its own unique stripe pattern – and they aren't the same on both sides! Mathias Appel/Wikimedia Commons

This allows researchers who study them in the wild to identify and count individual tigers. They use remote cameras to take pictures of the animals when they walk by. Using this method, tiger experts estimate that only most 3,400 wild tigers remain across their Asian homeland.

It's not only their fur that's inked with black stripes. When we have to sedate a tiger to treat an injury or do dental piece of work, we shave their fur. It's always surprising to run into that their peel well-nigh looks like it'due south been tattooed: It has the same striped design as its fur!

White tigers

Then if stripes camouflage tigers from potential prey, why are some of them white? Don't they stand out in the jungle, even with their stripes?

Yeah, they do! Because we've seen them on TV or in wildlife tourist attractions, we may retrieve they're common, but they're not. A genetic mutation in Bengal tigers gives them their milky white fur. Both parents must acquit the same very rare gene to produce white cubs. White tigers are bred to relatives in captivity to attract tourists – and inbreeding produces unhealthy offspring.

The white tiger'southward snowy coat is caused by a rare genetic mutation. No white tigers remain in the wild: In captivity, roadside zoos breed related tigers, producing these beautiful but sickly animals to concenter tourists. Basile Morin/Wikimedia, CC By

At that place were never more than a few white tigers in the wild. The last ane was spotted more than threescore years ago. That makes sense in terms of evolution. A white and black tiger is easier to spot than an orangish tiger, so it would have a harder fourth dimension catching its dinner.

Tigers' distinctive striped coats aid them chase successfully, but it's besides one reason why they're endangered. People impale them for their beautiful pelts, which command high prices in the illegal international wildlife merchandise, more often than not in Asia. Park guards and conservation groups are working to protect this iconic animal, the largest of all the big cats.

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