Kipling Was Half-Right: Why the Big Cats Got Their Spots (Or Stripes)

It's common wisdom that the big cats, like so many animals, evolved their particular look to blend into the background and skulk around undetected. But just how much are a cat's spots or stripes fine-tuned to its habitat? To find out, William Allen and colleagues dug into the markings in detail for a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B and found that their specificity is even more connected to the species' home and lifestyle than scientists ever knew. The Allen team studied 35 different species of big cats, looking at their markings next to their habitat, history, and hunting patterns.