When you first look at a tiger, the first thing you might notice is its beautiful orange color.
You might also be able to see it has black stripes on its body.
These are two main reasons why tigers are so well-known all over the world.
Everyone knows these animals have stripes, but why?
Have you ever wondered why?
Well, today we are going to look at why tigers have stripes and what they use them for.
Why Tigers Have Stripes
Stripes on a tiger’s body help it camouflage in the long grass or when hunting prey.
Camouflage is where something can blend into its surroundings making it harder to be seen.
For example, if you were playing hide and go seek and I had to count, I would hunt you down easier if you were wearing a big red jumper on a green grass field than if you were wearing blue jeans on a sandy beach.
This is because the color of the jumper blends in with the grass making it harder for me to see you.
Another way tigers use their stripes is to tell other tigers, “hey this is my space.”
This means no other tigers are allowed to go past these stripes or else they will have trouble.
If a tiger did not have stripes anymore because it got caught by another predator, it would probably get kicked out of its group and be all alone.
That’s why tigers with stripes on always try and protect their stripes and make sure they don’t get caught!
The tiger’s ancestor was a kind of cat called a ‘Sabre-toothed Tiger’. It passed down some genes which gave its children really sharp teeth and striped fur.
Some of its children ended up with stripes and some didn’t, which is why today we have orange tigers with black stripes.
