Animals - Animal types and traits - Tigers - Mammals - Animal camouflage
Why do tigers have stripes?
Correct!
A tiger's dark stripes are primarily used for camouflage. Tigers are ambush hunters and often move through tall grass, undergrowth and forests. There, the dark stripes break up the visible contour of its body and make it difficult for prey to recognize the tiger in time. Although the orange fur appears conspicuous to humans, the camouflage works surprisingly well. Many prey animals have different color perception than humans. Combined with shadows, vegetation and the black stripes, this can make the tiger much harder to see. What is particularly interesting is that each tiger has an individual stripe pattern, comparable to a human fingerprint. Researchers can therefore use photos to distinguish individual tigers from one another and observe them over a longer period of time. The stripes are not just on the hair. The underlying skin also has corresponding pigment patterns.
Each tiger has an individual stripe pattern that can also be used to identify individual animals.
