"Why? I've always been orange." - tigers

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?

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

I always wondered about that, thanks.

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

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.

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.

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?

Umm, I've met tigers.

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

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

outrun a mother fucking tiger

You only need to outrun your travelbuddy.

Competitive advantage over their deer peers.

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.

Probably not, the same way humans don't know we are striped.

Do humans know tigers are green?

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