Tigers are the world’s largest cat species, and their secretive lifestyle has captivated us for centuries. Often seen as symbols of power, strength and bravery, they have a complex and highly attuned sensory world that enables them to hunt effectively and navigate their territory in low light conditions. Let’s explore tigers’ super senses. 

Night vision

Tigers have lots of structures in their eyes that allow them to see much better than humans in the dark. Their lenses and pupils are large, letting in as much light as possible even at night. They also have lots of special cells in their eyes called ‘rods’, which are sensitive to light and mean that nighttime simply doesn’t look as dark to them as it does to us. Finally, tigers have a layer of cells at the back of their eyes which reflects any light that isn’t absorbed when it first enters the eye. This has the effect of brightening the images that they see.

The rod cells react quickly to light and shadow, helping tigers to sense small movements in their surroundings. The cells are located in the outer part of the eye, meaning a tiger’s peripheral or side vision is extremely good. 

Super hearing

Tigers also hear better than humans - in fact, their hearing is the best of all their senses. Their ears can rotate, which means they can detect the source of sounds with exceptional accuracy. Tigers are also more sensitive to low and high-pitched sounds; they can detect frequencies below 20 Hz - known as infrasound - and as high as 65,000 Hz, which is well into the ultrasound spectrum. By comparison, a human hearing range is about 20 - 20,000 Hz. All this means that tigers can hear the smallest movements of prey in the darkness, as well as the calls of other tigers, which have infrasonic tones that can travel for many miles across forests and mountain ranges. 

Precision touch

Tigers’ whiskers are another key part of navigating their nighttime world. They have five different types of whiskers, the most important of which are the mystacial whiskers on their snouts. These help tigers to feel their way through their surroundings at night. They also have whiskers on the backs of their front legs which are sensitive to temperature and help tigers to tread carefully through their environment. Tiger whiskers are deeply rooted in the skin and have a small blood supply. The tiniest changes in air pressure can displace this blood supply, causing movements to be detected. 

Join a tiger for tea

Come and see The Tiger Who Came to Tea in London this summer at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Playing from 22 June - 5 September, this Olivier Award-nominated children’s play brings Judith Kerr’s bestselling picture book to life with songs, dancing and clumsy chaos. At 55 minutes long with no interval, it’s one of the best children’s shows, being perfectly suited to shorter attention spans. Get your tickets today and join the fun.