事實證明，老虎耳朵上的斑點看起來像眼睛，是為了迷惑獵物

事實證明，老虎耳朵上的斑點看起來像眼睛，是為了迷惑獵物

While nature offers us such lovely sights as kittens and adorable otters swimming while holding hands, it can also dish out some rather terrifying affairs. And while some people might find big cats cute, majestic and glorious, there is also a sense of danger around them that none of us can deny. After all, how many of you would like to face a tiger alone in the jungle?

雖然大自然給我們提供了一些可愛的景觀，比如小貓和可愛的水獺手牽手游泳，但它也能給我們帶來一些相當可怕的事情。雖然有些人可能會覺得大型貓科動物可愛、威嚴和光榮，但它們也有一種我們無法否認的危險感。畢竟，你們當中有多少人愿意獨自面對叢林中的老虎?

An apex predator, a tiger drives fear in both their animal prey as well as humans observing them. We all can recognize this majestic animal from its distinctive dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. But there’s more to this cat’s coat than catches the eye at first.

老虎是一種頂級掠食者，它能讓它們的獵物和觀察它們的人類產(chǎn)生恐懼。我們都可以從它獨特的深垂直條紋的紅橙色皮毛和較輕的底面來識別這種威嚴的動物。但這只貓科動物的皮毛還有比一開始吸引眼球更多的地方。

Tigers have spots on the backs of their ears that look like eyes!

老虎耳朵后面有斑點，看起來像眼睛!

Image credits: Philippe Rivier

Image credits: skeeze

Turns out, tigers have ocellus that are eye-like markings on their ears. Pretty neat, huh? While most often observed on butterflies, this feature is exhibited by a variety of animals including reptiles, fish, and birds (think peacock!). The eye-like marking often works as a defense mechanism where a prey animal mimics the eyes of a larger predator animal. However, self-defense is not the only reason some animals have this sort of marking, sometimes it’s just a matter of spandrels or accidental pattern formation.

事實證明，老虎的耳朵上有眼狀斑紋。很整潔的,不是嗎?雖然這一特征在蝴蝶身上最為常見，但在包括爬行動物、魚類和鳥類(想想孔雀吧!)這種類似眼睛的標記通常是一種防御機制，獵物模仿大型食肉動物的眼睛。然而，自衛(wèi)并不是一些動物有這種標記的唯一原因，有時只是麻雀或偶然形成的圖案。

Image credits: 12019

Image credits: Yatinrana

So, since tigers are apex predators, what is the deal with them having those eye-like markings? Well, there are actually two theories as to why. One of them assumes that those eye-markings act as a form of intimidation and make it seem as if tigers can see everything around them, discouraging any other animals from messing around. It also makes them appear bigger than they are.

那么，既然老虎是頂級掠食者，那么它們有眼睛一樣的斑紋是怎么回事呢?關于原因有兩種理論。其中一種假設是，這些眼睛上的斑紋是一種恐嚇，讓老虎看起來好像能看到周圍的一切，讓其他動物不敢亂動。這也使他們看起來比實際更大。

Image credits: Alexandru Panoiu

Image credits: Philippe Rivier

Another theory is that the markings help tigers communicate with one another and the display of white markings to someone facing them is an act of aggression. When threatened, tigers tend to twist their ears so the backs face the front, exposing the white spots.

另一種理論是，這些斑紋幫助老虎互相交流，向面對它們的人展示白色斑紋是一種侵略行為。當受到威脅時，老虎傾向于扭轉它們的耳朵，使背部朝前，露出白色斑點。

Image credits: Philippe Rivier

Image credits: Philippe Rivier

There are many that speculate that those markings are there for both of those reasons. So if you combine these theories, tigers have those eye-marks to appear as the big boss that’s not to be messed with.

有很多人推測這些標記的存在是由于這兩個原因。所以，如果你把這些理論結合起來，老虎的眼睛上會出現(xiàn)大老板的印記，這是不可混淆的。