Study
Zebra stripes and tiger stripes: the spatial frequency distribution of the pattern compared to that of the background is significant in display and crypsis
Godfrey, D.; Lythgoe, J. N.; Rumball, D. A.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 1987
Photographs of striped animals and of their habitats were decomposed into spatial frequencies, and the frequency content of the animal compared with the frequency content of the background it was photographed against.
- Studied in
- Panthera tigris, Equus quagga
- Sample size
- photographs of animals and their backgrounds analysed
A tiger’s stripes match the spatial frequency of vegetation at the distances that matter, so at range the animal’s pattern is not separable from the pattern of the grass and scrub behind it. Close up, the same stripes are highly conspicuous.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The same pattern can serve concealment at one viewing distance and display at another, depending on how its spatial frequency compares with the background.
How NatureHQ reads it
The distance dependence is the useful part, and it corrects the two opposite errors people make. Stripes do not make a tiger invisible, and a tiger in a zoo enclosure at ten metres is proof of that. What they do is delay detection at the range where a stalk succeeds or fails, which is the only range at which it matters.
- Photographic analysis rather than a detection experiment with real observers.
- Backgrounds were sampled opportunistically rather than from measured hunting locations.
- Predates the visual-system modelling that turned out to carry most of the explanatory weight.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1987.tb00442.x
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
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