this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 162 points 4 days ago (3 children)

This is also why hunting vests are bright orange. Easy for humans to spot, and deer get confused by there being a fucking tiger loose in New England.

[–] Lyrl@lemm.ee 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Apparently pink works as well, if a hunter wants a second color vest

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 13 points 4 days ago

That works on the same principle, except the deer thinks you're a panther.

[–] Deepus@lemm.ee 16 points 4 days ago

I always wondered about that, thanks.

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[–] bonsai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 87 points 4 days ago

Meanwhile my colorblind ass:

[–] VivianRixia@piefed.social 87 points 5 days ago (11 children)

So was it just random that their fur is orange and not green? As both would help hunt prey just as well. Or is the advantage of being orange, that it wards away other tigers and predators that might otherwise muscle into its territory and create conflict.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 189 points 5 days ago (10 children)

It’s also orange because mammals can’t produce green pigments, so orange is the next best thing if your prey is red-green colorblind.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 104 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Our primary outer protein is basically keratin, which can be tinted orange(carotene), beige (collagen) or brown/black (melanin).

The green pigment is a byproduct of bilirubin catabolism, which we don't have because we use a different pathway to metabolize and recycle it.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 49 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] Dicska@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)
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[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 35 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

This is probably an example of natural evolution/selection where tigers that had slowly evolved more orange in their fur naturally, were able to feed more. This in turn meant the orange triat in their genes was passed on more frequently and became more dominant in the population.

In a sense it was probably a "random" mutation, but when it became useful and effective it was passed down quicker.

[–] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This is how evolution works. People often imagine some sort of logical system to it, but it really is just random mutations all over, with the advantageous ones propagating. There were probably a bunch of tigers with various odd colors or patterns at some point due to random mutations, but those evidently were less useful for hunting and reproducing than how they look now, so they died out in competition with the known variants.

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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 66 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Do tigers themselves see themselves as orange, or are they genuinely surprised when humans easily spot them hiding in the grass?

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 41 points 4 days ago

My cats are surprised both by me seeing them sitting on an empty floor, and by other cats who they didn't see sitting on the floor.

So I can only conclude the answer is semi-perpetual amazement.

They do not, like almost all mammals they are dichromatic! It's mostly us and some primates that can see in three wavelengths. Although interestingly enough, fish and birds can see in four wavelengths. Makes me wonder if that contributed to smaller cats being mostly gray and black, to just reduce as much light as possible?

Tigers are generally crepuscular which means they’re most active around dawn or dusk, when the sun is very low in the sky. Their orange fur does not stand out so well when everything looks orange under the golden light of dawn.

[–] MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Desperately need me a community just for tiger facts like this and pictures of tigers. Greatest of the Big Cats

[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Thank you for subscribing to Big Cat Facts

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[–] pseudo@jlai.lu 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Feel free to open !bigcats or !tiger I'll be your first follower.

[–] MyNameIsAtticus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I wish lol. I don't have enough time to manage a community though. if someone else made one though i'd follow it instantly

[–] pseudo@jlai.lu 2 points 1 day ago

I vaguely remember someone mentioning a community to give your community ideas to who may want to implement it... I forgot the name.

[–] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 40 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thank you, evolution, for allowing me to see orange so I can get an head start and outrun a mother fucking tiger!

[–] jwt@programming.dev 32 points 4 days ago (3 children)

outrun a mother fucking tiger

You only need to outrun your travelbuddy.

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[–] goodwipe@lemmy.ca 48 points 5 days ago (3 children)

The green image of the tiger is terrifying. You wouldn't see it until it's eyes or teeth were baring down on you in a lush green forest. Thankfully humans weren't it's main prey and therefore it likely evolved to appear orange instead...

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 42 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Umm, I've met tigers.

You need to explain to them that we're not prey, but they haven't figured it out yet.

[–] tja@sh.itjust.works 22 points 5 days ago

I think the key word is "main".

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[–] JillyB@beehaw.org 26 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm colorblind and the images are nearly identical. Good thing I'm not in tiger habitats very often.

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[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 28 points 4 days ago (15 children)

Wouldn't a mutation in the deer sight to see orange be vastly evolutionary beneficial?

[–] superniceperson@sh.itjust.works 29 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Only in areas with tigers, and then it would only express itself enough if there were enough evolutionary pressure exclusively on that survival tactic.

As long as other causes of death happen to deer in tiger territories and as long as speed remains a good survival strategy, minor mutations that would only provide an advantage in extreme specific scenarios like a tiger stalking them wouldn't have a chance to be spread.

There's also a whole host of additional brain power that needs to be dedicated to more complex colour blending and processing, and that may add enough delay to offset any potential gain in recognizing a threat.

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[–] Xatolos@reddthat.com 11 points 4 days ago

It could, but it might also lead to something harmful for the deer at the same time. I'm not sure if the gene affecting the deer's eyesight is known, but it could be a pleiotropic gene (a gene that influences multiple traits at once).

If that's the case, and the other effect is negative and somehow spreads through the population, it could become a future issue for the deer. Think about humansβ€”we lost the ability to produce our own vitamin C. Almost every other mammal can produce their own (except for hamsters). When this happened, it didn’t harm us right away, so it spread through the population. But over time, it led to issues that weren’t a problem before, like scurvy.

Same could happen to the deer.

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 11 points 4 days ago

Presumably yes, but its still down to a roll of the dice whether a mutation like that happens in the first place, and whether the individuals who have that mutation live long enough to breed, and whether that mutation actually gets passed down, etc

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

It's been far more important, evolution wise, to be agile and quick enough to avoid predators. Like a security camera can only tell you how someone was murdered.

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 21 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Do the tigers know they are orange?

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Do humans know tigers are green?

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Asking the real questions

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

No, they too are dichromats

[–] Toes@ani.social 10 points 4 days ago

Almost like our eyes evolved to give danger its own colour.

[–] Acamon@lemmy.world 32 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Is that why cats can be so ginger and still good hunters? My orange stands out so much in the garden, but maybe to dichromatic mice he's super stealthy?

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[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This must be utterly terrifying for them.

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Oooh I just thought nature was fucking stupid

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Would not green be the obvious route then?

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago

AFAIK green is more expensive to produce. Plants use it since it's good at absorbing sunlight, but what's the advantage to a tiger, if their prey can't tell the difference?

[–] callyral@pawb.social 1 points 2 days ago

idk they could make green but then in, let's say, UV it's like a completely different color, so it'd just be the same situation but in another level

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