this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 54 points 3 days ago (6 children)

AI or myostatin related muscle hypertrophy? Tigers are strong, but they have loose skin and don't look like that unless something is wrong.

[–] stray@pawb.social 42 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I think they just look like that sometimes. I found a lot of images of tigers with significant definition until finding one I could identify.

This is Luca, and his profile doesn't say anything about a medical condition.

https://www.carerescuetexas.com/meet-the-animals/tigers/luca.html

You can see videos of the cats here:

https://m.youtube.com/@bigcatderek/videos

I think the lighting angle might be doing a lot of the work in the OP image.

e: I actually just want to share some tiger pictures because I like them.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I think they just look like that sometimes.

I believe I read somewhere that animals don't need to exercise to have strong muscles. Human evolution on the other hand, prioritised endurance over strength. So when tigers or chimpanzees eat, the calories are used for muscles while humans have to actively exercise to get the same result.

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Humans also utilize a ton of their available calories to maintain their large brains rather than basically anything else in their body. We basically made a hyper minmax build

[–] stray@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They do need exercise to strengthen their muscles, but humans are designed to shed unused muscle way more readily than either tigers or chimpanzees. They need their strength to navigate their habitats and obtain future meals, while we're endurance predators capable of walking our prey to death even while emaciated. Excess muscle on a human is a waste of energy, so our bodies will happily scrap it all for free protein.

Any responsible animal-keeper will furnish the habitat with enrichment structures/items that will provide all the exercise their wards require. Poorly-kept animals (or especially lazy ones) will lose muscle tone and put on fat.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Yes that goes without saying.

But we won't see a gorilla being more active than necessary for gains. That's what I was trying to say.

Any responsible animal-keeper will furnish the habitat with enrichment structures/items that will provide all the exercise their wards require. Poorly-kept animals (or especially lazy ones) will lose muscle tone and put on fat.

One reason why I didn't go to any zoo in Japan while visiting.

[–] Kertyna@feddit.nl 2 points 2 days ago

Why are these tigers so hot!?

[–] cepelinas@sopuli.xyz 24 points 3 days ago

Probably not AI because there is an image match of this from 5 years ago.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

every once in a while my fluffy kitty looks absolutely jacked (not to that extent, but super muscly) and she weighs like 10 pounds. runs around all fuckin day chasing greebles.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

Doesn't look like it. Muscles are probably flexed due to his front leg doing the curl pose.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That has to be painful for them, right? My first instinct was to laugh but then I thought maybe that'd be mean to YACKED KITTY-BEAR

[–] stray@pawb.social 2 points 2 days ago

The internet says it's generally harmless, but that it can be associated with other health problems depending on what's causing it.