Why do tigers have stripes?
Tigers have stripes for a few clever reasons, like wearing a cool disguise and playing hide-and-seek!

Imagine you're playing a game of hide-and-seek in a big grassy field with your friends. If you wear a shirt with colors that match the grass, you can hide better, right? Well, tigers have stripes that help them hide too!

Tigers live in forests and grasslands where there are lots of tall grasses and shadows. Their stripes actually help them blend into this environment. When a tiger crouches down in the tall grass, its stripes make it really hard for other animals to see them. It's like nature's way of giving tigers a super sneaky hiding spot!

And here's another clever thing: when the sunlight filters through the leaves and branches of the trees, the tiger's stripes also help break up its outline, making it even harder to spot. So, they're like nature's perfect camouflage outfit!

But, tigers don't just have stripes to hide. The stripes can also help them stay cool or warm. When it's hot, the dark stripes absorb the sun's heat, and the light stripes reflect it, creating a kind of natural air conditioning.

So, tigers have stripes for a bunch of smart reasons: to hide when they're hunting or trying to stay safe, to help them blend into their surroundings, and even to help them control their temperature. It's like having a fashionable outfit that also helps them play the best games of hide-and-seek in the wild!