Page 25 - World of Animals - Deadly Predators
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Felinae
© Getty
9. How do tigers
hunt in the dark?
Tigers are highly adapted to
hunting in the dark. Their night
vision is roughly six times
better than that of humans,
and during the night their preys’
eyesight is weakened, making
this the perfect time for tigers
to hunt.
Tigers’ eyes have more rods
(visual acuity) than cones
(colour vision), which allows
them to detect the movement
of their prey - during the dark
tigers won’t be able to see
in colour and so cones won’t
help. Their night vision is also
assisted by a structure at the
back of the tigers’ eyes called
the tapetum lucidum, which
reflects light back into the eye.
This structure is the reason why
tigers’ eyes appear to glow.
When tigers are hunting in
darkness, their ability to focus
on closer objects is affected
as their eyes dilate to let more
light in. As a result, they use
their mystacial whiskers to help
them navigate through the
Tigers, and other large jungle and determine where
predators, have round
pupils, while domestic they should strike their prey.
cats have slit-like pupils
7. Why do tigers 10. How big is a lion pride?
hunt alone? Lions are the only cats that live in
groups, known as prides. A pride
Tigers are solitary animals that are can have up to 40 individuals, but
powerful enough to take down 14 is more typical.
large mammals like antelope and 11. Do cats use smell to hunt?
buffalo by themselves. They live in
Most cats rely on their sense of
jungles where they search for food
hearing and sight, not smell, to
during the night. During this time hunt for prey.
they stalk their prey before they
are ready to pounce. If tigers were 12. Can they eat venomous prey?
to hunt in groups they would be Sand cats, which are found in the
more likely to be spotted by their © Thinkstock deserts of North Africa and the
prey, which would immediately Middle East, will hunt venomous
flee, leaving the tiger hungry. vipers and other snakes.
8. Do cheetahs scavenge for food? Unlike other African predators, cheetahs
usually prefer to eat fresh meat. They won’t even come back to their previous kill.
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