事实证明，老虎耳朵上的斑点看起来像眼睛，是为了迷惑猎物

事实证明，老虎耳朵上的斑点看起来像眼睛，是为了迷惑猎物

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?

虽然大自然给我们提供了一些可爱的景观，比如小猫和可爱的水獭手牵手游泳，但它也能给我们带来一些相当可怕的事情。虽然有些人可能会觉得大型猫科动物可爱、威严和光荣，但它们也有一种我们无法否认的危险感。毕竟，你们当中有多少人愿意独自面对丛林中的老虎?

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.

老虎是一种顶级掠食者，它能让它们的猎物和观察它们的人类产生恐惧。我们都可以从它独特的深垂直条纹的红橙色皮毛和较轻的底面来识别这种威严的动物。但这只猫科动物的皮毛还有比一开始吸引眼球更多的地方。

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

老虎耳朵后面有斑点，看起来像眼睛!

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.

事实证明，老虎的耳朵上有眼状斑纹。很整洁的,不是吗?虽然这一特征在蝴蝶身上最为常见，但在包括爬行动物、鱼类和鸟类(想想孔雀吧!)这种类似眼睛的标记通常是一种防御机制，猎物模仿大型食肉动物的眼睛。然而，自卫并不是一些动物有这种标记的唯一原因，有时只是麻雀或偶然形成的图案。

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，既然老虎是顶级掠食者，那么它们有眼睛一样的斑纹是怎么回事呢?关于原因有两种理论。其中一种假设是，这些眼睛上的斑纹是一种恐吓，让老虎看起来好像能看到周围的一切，让其他动物不敢乱动。这也使他们看起来比实际更大。

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.

另一种理论是，这些斑纹帮助老虎互相交流，向面对它们的人展示白色斑纹是一种侵略行为。当受到威胁时，老虎倾向于扭转它们的耳朵，使背部朝前，露出白色斑点。

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.

有很多人推测这些标记的存在是由于这两个原因。所以，如果你把这些理论结合起来，老虎的眼睛上会出现大老板的印记，这是不可混淆的。