Recently I did a survey to the students of XI IPA 2 and the results conclude that 60% of the students in XI IPA 2 prefer Felines rather than Canines. out of that 60%, about 65% prefer domesticated cats and the other 35% percent likes big wild cats. Most of the cats that were mentioned were Tigers, Anggoras, and Persian Cats. Meanwhile, the other 40% that prefer Canines usually prefer to trained dogs like the Golden Retriever, Bulldog, and Siberian Husky, only a few mentioned the Wolves and Foxes.
Another question was pointed out, "if you could have any Canine or Feline, what would it be?" and the most recent answer is the Tiger and Siberian Husky, most of the answers are followed by compliments of how beautiful or tough the animal is.
Most of the students pointed out if they could do something about stray cats and dogs, they would make a special shelter for them like in the USA, with dog or cat catcher too. Some also wanted to bring them home and keep good care of them and to clean them and sell them at a pet shop. Another opinion said that he would buy a big land to make a free habitat for them to live still in the nature.
So that is the results of the survey on Canines and Felines from XI IPA 2 SMA Labschool Kebayoran. Thanks :)
Jumat, 06 Mei 2011
Minggu, 24 April 2011
Narrative Text: Ashley and The Underwater City
This is a story i wrote myself. Its a bit long because one of my favorite past times is writing :D
The dark vortex couldn’t hold on much longer. “Dad we gotta get outta here!!!” I screamed with all the breath I had. “Dad! Dad! DAAAADDDD!!!!!”
“Ashley Lynn Brookman!” Miss Abigail shouted from the other side of the classroom.
“Whoa? Who?” I woke up. Miss Abigail’s high pitched voice interrupted one of the most important moments of the day, day dreaming about Dad.
“I’d like to talk with you after class,” she said softly, but still it didn’t make me feel any better.
When teachers want to ‘talk’ with you privately, it could only mean two things: one, your grades are excellent and you’re the most wonderful student in class; two, you’re flunking big time and your parents might get involved. For me, it’s positively the second one.
“Are you having problems with my teaching Ashley?” she asked me directly in the eye.
“Uh, I don’t think so Miss”
“Is it that you dislike History?”
“No, not at all”
“Well, is there any particular reason you’ve been falling asleep in my class?”
“No Miss, I’ve just been a little tired lately”
“Is it your swimming practice?”
“Uhm, sure.”
“Well then, I expect you to be in fit shape for my next class, get some sleep. Okay?”
“Okay” I left the room as soon as possible
History is actually something I’m very fond of. Learning how something became how it is today, it just fascinates me. Especially because of the fact there is about a million books about ancient history in my dad’s computer room. It isn’t really a surprise if you found six year old Ashley reading about the Egyptian culture while waiting for Super Mario Bros to load at the PC.
Miss Abigail isn’t a problem either, actually I enjoy her teaching skills. She’s one of the youngest teachers at my school, she’s very caring and can adapt to the teenage life. Even so, there is no way I could tell her my story. What I’ve been going through lately is just too big for someone like her.
So, let’s start from the beginning. My mom is a stewardess, my dad is a pilot. Wait strike that, my mom is a stewardess, my dad is an adventurer. Don’t get the whole adventurer concept? Let’s just say he loves to travel. He loves going around the world and discovering new stuff. Looking for new species of ferns in Brazil’s tropical rain forest, sliding on a kayak through the Amazon, hanging out with orangutans in the middle of Borneo, it’s practically his life’s passion. He’d just enjoy every moment there, and come back home with the most amazing gifts ever! Other dads come home with souvenir key chains, my dad comes home with strange leafs and the most beautiful mineral rocks. He would always come home, take a shower(and trust me he always needs it), then he would sit on the couch with me and tell me everything about the trip, give me extraordinary gifts, and tell me how much he wished I could be there to explore the Mayan caves with him.
Sounds great? I think so too. Until one day, on December 19th, he went away on a trip to the Middle East, or maybe it was to Asia? I don’t know. What I know is, he didn’t fulfill his promise to come home for Christmas. So maybe my family doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas, but we all always manage to spare time from our busy schedules to spend time together. Me and my swimming practice, Mom and her busy flights, Dad and his traveling. My Mom new that marrying a guy with a passion for something so different would not always be fun. So Mom and I celebrated our family with one missing member, she missed my Dad, but she didn’t mind his absence because she knew John G. Brookman very well, and new he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. She kept thinking like that, but it probably stopped. As she embraced the fact that it’s already March and Dad never came back. I maybe a kid, but I know that’s the reason she takes two shifts on the plane now, she’s trying to get her mind off of it.
As for me I, I know he’s out there. I just know it, I keep on having these dreams about my Dad, about him needing my help for something. But even though I’m only a 13 year old, I know there something that I have to do, something big. “The only big thing you have to do now, is keep up your grades and keep working on your swimming, not everybody is picked for the National Swimming Team you know?” that’s what Aunt Barbra keeps on telling me. “Angie’s probably getting more work because she’s doing really good!” and that’s what she always says about my Mom. Lies.
Lately I’ve been spending time with Aunt Barbra, she moved in about two months ago and I’ve been sitting with her at the dinner table every night ever since. Aunt Barbra usually cooks and watches the TV to spend her time, I go through Mom and Dad’s belongings and look for neat stuff.
“Aunt Barbra I’ll be in the computer room if you need me,” I shouted from the staircase
“Sure thing honey, I’ll be right here in front of the TV.”
That night I was looking through Dads’ stuff when I found a big black dirty book. “Interesting” I mumbled softly. The book had a hard leather exterior with a lock on the side, just like a diary. I opened it and found big yellow pages of my dads writing and some of his drawing, there were some pictures too. After inspecting it for a while, it drove me to one conclusion: it was my dads’ diary. All the dates, the journeys, pictures, and plans he’s written in it, what else could it be? Every single story he had told me was written precisely the same. Every place and every adventure had pictures and bits of specimens to be studied. It was all so real and so familiar, for some reason it brought me to tears. Especially when I saw the last page of the book, ‘Most Precious’ was the title of the page, and there was a picture of Mom, Dad, and I on one of our past Christmases. From then on I knew that my dad really did love us, and I would never let him down and give up on him. After embarrassingly weeping for a moment (sobbing up tears isn’t really my thing), I looked for his last writing from his journeys. Just as I suspected, before leaving on 19th December, he wrote his plans on the 18th, I guess he accidentally left the diary here.
December 18th 2007
Tomorrow I’m leaving to Syria to continue on the A67 Project. I’ll be back on the 24th for our family Christmas gathering. I couldn’t stand being away from them too long anyway. Especially after the new news about Ashley’s’ success on the National Swimming Team, can’t wait to see her face when I bring her the Gravokus Argalma from the Middle Ocean. She would be thrilled to see what that plant could do to oxygenate pool water. Adam can’t come with me this time, well I guess I’m on this mission alone.
John G. Brookman
My instincts were tingling out of control, I knew it! I knew my dad was somehow still alive. He didn’t run away, he didn’t forget about us, he’s out there! Somewhere out there and I just know that he’s waiting for my help. My dreams were right!
“My dreams were right Aunt Barbra! My dreams were right! I’m right! I’m right!” I couldn’t help to dance along happily while circling Aunt Barbra.
“Whoa? Right about what dear?”
“I knew it! Wait, I have to save him! He needs my help! But how? OH! Adam! He’d know what to do!”
“Adam? He’s probably asleep by now Ashley, and you should be too”
“Oh Aunt Barbra could you please please please take me to Adam’s house tomorrow?”
“Ashley what about your swimming practice?”
“Oh please Aunt Barbra, I promise I’ll never be absent for practice, ever!”
“Oh okay then, don’t tell your mom okay? Go brush your teeth”
“HORAAAAY!”
That night, I couldn’t sleep. Because I knew that tomorrow, all of my dreams of rescuing Dad would soon come true. And he’d be sitting in the front row with Mom for the swimming competition that’s coming up in two months. But with all the excitement, I still managed to remind myself that there’s a big chance that Adam doesn’t know where Dad is either. And there’s a bigger chance that I will never be able to find him.
Adam Kevin Brookman is the youngest sibling of the Brookman Brothers. Both Adam and John enjoy traveling and going on adventures. As John usually enjoys the wild flora, Adam enjoys the fauna. But still, both enjoy the wild life and both love studying about new or ancient cultures. Even though Adam and John are about 13 years apart in age, but there brotherly bond is really strong because of their same interest.
Mom thinks I should call him ‘Uncle Adam’, but Adam always insists on calling him his first name. It’s probably because he’s the youngest between all the grown ups in my family, and the title ‘Uncle’ could probably change his image. Adam is still 27 years old anyway, so I feel more flexible around him, like an older brother of my own. He’s young, he’s a certified scientist, and Aunt Barbra thinks he’s good looking. He doesn’t have a girlfriend either, well at least I thought so.
The next day I came to Adam’s house. Its been a long time since I’ve gone there, I usually go there with Dad to accompany him to work on his research. I knocked the door with my special knock that I made with Adam. Knock to knock knock knock
“Who is it?” a familiar high pitched voice started to show its face behind the opened door
“WHATTHE?!” I startled and fell backwards, directly into the Asian White Lillie’s pot, which now didn’t look like a pot anymore. My clothes were soaking wet with green Lilly water. But I couldn’t take my eyes of a certain figure in front of me.
“ButtheandyouwereandIam, Miss Abigail?” I mumbled like a maniac and froze for a certain period. Did you ever have that feeling where you started out excited and ended up being freakishly surprised, confused, and guilty because your History teacher caught you not being sick when you were suppose to be at swimming practice? Don’t forget the fact that you’re embarrassingly wet, because your clothes are covered with slimy Lilly goo, and you just broke an antique flower pot, all at your uncles’ house. Strangely it happens.
“Ashley? Aren’t you supposed to be at swimming practice?” I could see it in her eyes, she thinks I’m a total freak show.
There was no good explanation I could think about spontaneously, I could tell her I’m on my way to find my missing dad that went on a journey to the Middle East from last Christmas, but shutting my mouth always seemed better at times like this.
“Ashley?” a heavy voice from inside the house was approaching, it was Adam.
“Oh man, what happened to you Ash? Aw you broke my Lilly pot”
I wanted to scream, “WHATS WRONG WITH YOU? I’M SOAKING WET IN FRONT OF MY HISTORY TEACHER AND YOU’RE ASKING ABOUT YOUR FLOWER POT?” But sadly I was still in a freeze, so I just looked at him.
“Oh you met Abby, Abby this is Ash my uhm sister, Ash this is Abby. Have you guys met before?”
“Abby?” I said in the softest voice. Oh I met ‘Abby’ alright.
“Uh Adam, I better be going, I have some assignments to grade…And this is a bit awkward. So I guess I’ll be leaving”
“Oh okay, see you Abby” Adam had that look on his face, I know that look.
“See you Adam…Ashley” She smiled at me and went away, I looked at her and still didn’t say.
“Abby?” I asked
“Yeah, isn’t she wonderful?”
“I know that look”
“What look?”
“Oh whatever, I’m soaking wet in goo here, can I take a shower?”
I took a shower and wore one of Dad’s old sweat shirts that Adam kept. Adam was in the kitchen, so I sneaked around the house to look for some clues, clues that might lead to Dad. But while I was looking through one of Adams’ research books, Adam crept up behind me.
“Chicken or beef Ash?” he said out of no where
“WHOA! Stop scaring me like that. Chicken or beef?” I had no idea what he was asking.
“For the pizzas, do you want chicken or beef for the topping? Wait what are you doing with my books?”
“Uh well, nothing.”
“Ash, is there something you want to tell me?”
“I think you should order the pizzas first before we move on. I vote beef.”
Adam and I started talking about how Dad has gone for along time now with no news. We talked about how things have been at my house, with Mom gone and Aunt Barbra filling in. We talked about the old days where I use to sleep at Adam’s house while waiting for Dad working on his research. Its right when people say that it’s better to talk about your feelings rather then to keep it all in, especially when those feeling are full of uncertainty and curiosity. When you do spill all these feelings, you should always remember to do it with the right people, and in my case, Adam was the best person to tell about this.
“John did leave some coordinates to me before he took off” Adam said
“Really? Where did he say he was going?”
“He’s around the Middle Sea, he said he would go somewhere around Crete Island or Nicosia when he’s done at Syria”
“He is? Is there anyway we could find him?”
“Well, how many days could you get out of school?”
“You mean…”
“Yes, I want you to come with me. John always told me how much he’d love to bring you on a trip. He already trained you the basics right?”
“Yes! He did! Oh God this is going to be wonderful! I’ll meet Dad!”
“Ash, you can only come if Barbra allows you though, she is your guardian”
“Could you talk to her?” I smiled with victory.
Two weeks of absence might affect my grades in class, and missing many swimming practices won’t do any good for the upcoming swimming competition, but I’d give that all up for my chance to find Dad, and I finally got it. Aunt Barbra agreed with Adams’ sweet charm to give me a permit to leave school. Adam also said he told ‘Abby’ about the whole mission thing and she agreed, she even helped give some maps and articles about the local culture around the Middle East. It’s funny what a big brain and a pretty face could do.
Adam and I left home on a jet plane owned by one of Dads’ friends. We decided to go to Nicosia first to find clues of him. During the 8 hour flight, I realized that the coordinates that Dad left would leave us exactly in the middle of the sea. It would be ridiculous to be studying for so long in the middle of the sea, not to mention the fact that he’s alone. But somehow I felt it would be right if we checked the exact coordinates he left before searching around Crete Island and Nicosia. After insisting Adam to go to the Middle Sea first, we finally got there in good time.
“Ash, look around you. I told you there’s nothing here. It’s all blue…and wet…” Adam seemed tired, 8 hours wasn’t that fast without Dad to take shifts driving the jet.
I stared down desperately, I knew something should be here. Or was it all just my wild dreams? My imagination? A simple delusion of a daughter that has been longing for her father? I took Dad’s big black book and Adam’s note of the coordinates.
“It just has to be here! I know it!” I cried to myself, I didn’t even want to see Adam’s reaction.
I stared at the writings carefully, what did I miss? All I could see was Dads’ notes earlier. Suddenly, at the edge of my eye, I realized a small writing in a thin layer of black ink below Dads’ signature. Spledide mendax.
Spledide Mendax? Dad once told me what that Latin proverb meant. But it was years ago, on one night before bedtime he told me what it meant, I couldn’t remember. I stared at the blue sea below our jet, not caring of Adams’ voice insisting to leave this location. I took a deep breath while enjoying the sight of the blue sparkly sea below us. Drops of yellow sunray blinded my eyes for a second from the scenery of blue waters.
Blinding.
Hallucinations are blinding.
That’s what it meant.
Without any further thinking, I opened the jet plane emergency door. Adam ran to me, ordering me to close the door because it was dangerous.
“SPLEDIDE MENDAX!” I screamed out the words with all my breath.
Suddenly the water below the jet started to stir up, rumbling, and twisting all about. A cyclone started to form beneath the jet plane. All of this may seem like a catastrophe for usual people. But somehow all that was happening felt right in my head, frightening but right. The cyclone looked exactly like the vortex in my dreams, scary, dark, and has the ability to suck everything insight. With seconds to spare from being sucked into the cyclone with the jet plane, I couldn’t help to do what I’ve been doing in my sleep. I jumped into the cyclone. With Adam dragged on my hand with me.
A bright blue shine of light passed my half closed eyelids, giving a shock to my tired physic, my body was wounded. I must have hit something hard. It was the ground. But the ground here wasn’t made of dirt, it was made of a hard mineral, some kind of iron with diamonds in between. I woke up to a shock when I saw the most beautiful scenery in front of my eyes. It was a city like no other, buildings like Greece, golden God statues and strange shaped pyramids, with blue and green Sakura trees all over the city. The reflected golden rays from the statues lighted up my face. Adam stood beside me, gazing speechless to the most beautiful architecture he had ever seen.
“Adam, where are we?”
“I don’t know Ash… The air is extremely moist, the cultural markings are like nothing in this world, and my compass is going crazy. Where do you think?”
“Could it be… The cyclone brought us inside the waters?”
“You mean, underwater? An underwater city?”
We stood in amazement for quite a while, enjoying our the heart filled emotion of victorious satisfaction.
“Ashley?”
A familiar voice crept up behind us, I jumped into a defensive mode for a while, but after realizing the figure behind us, I ran into his arms and hugged him tight.
The End
Rabu, 23 Maret 2011
Liger, hybrid between a male lion and female tiger
| Liger | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female (left) and male (right) ligers at Everland amusement park, South Korea | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | Panthera leo × Panthera tigris |
Ligers enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers and are very sociable like lions. Ligers exist only in captivity because the habitat of the parental species do not overlap in the wild. Historically, when the Asiatic Lion was prolific the territories of lions and tigers did overlap and there are legends of ligers existing in the wild. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons which tend to be about as large a female tiger.[citation needed]
History
The history of ligers dates to at least the early 19th century in, India Asia. In 1798, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772–1844) made a colour plate of the offspring of a lion and a tiger.In 1825, G.B. Whittaker made an engraving of liger cubs born in 1824.[citation needed] The parents and their three liger offspring are also depicted with their trainer in a 19th Century painting in the naïve style.
Two liger cubs which had been born in 1837 were exhibited to William IV and to his successor Victoria. On 14 December 1900 and on 31 May 1901, Carl Hagenbeck wrote to zoologist James Cossar Ewart with details and photographs of ligers born at the Hagenbeck's Tierpark in Hamburg in 1897.
In Animal Life and the World of Nature (1902–1903), A.H. Bryden described Hagenbeck's "lion-tiger" hybrids:
It has remained for one of the most enterprising collectors and naturalists of our time, Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, not only to breed, but to bring successfully to a healthy maturity, specimens of this rare alliance between those two great and formidable felidae, the lion and tiger. The illustrations will indicate sufficiently how fortunate Mr. Hagenbeck has been in his efforts to produce these hybrids. The oldest and biggest of the animals shown is a hybrid born on the 11th May, 1897. This fine beast, now more than five years old, equals and even excels in his proportions a well-grown lion, measuring as he does from nose tip to tail 10 ft 2 inches in length, and standing only three inches less than 4 ft at the shoulder. A good big lion will weigh about 400 lb [...] the hybrid in question, weighing as it does no less than 467 lb, is certainly the superior of the most well-grown lions, whether wild-bred or born in a menagerie. This animal shows faint striping and mottling, and, in its characteristics, exhibits strong traces of both its parents. It has a somewhat lion-like head, and the tail is more like that of a lion than of a tiger. On the other hand, it has no trace of mane. It is a huge and very powerful beast.[1]In 1935, four ligers from two litters were reared in the Zoological Gardens of Bloemfontein, South Africa. Three of them, a male and two females, were still living in 1953. The male weighed 340 kg (750 lb) and stood a foot and a half (45 cm) taller than a full grown male lion at the shoulder.
Although ligers are more commonly found than tiglons today, in At Home In The Zoo (1961), Gerald Iles wrote "For the record I must say that I have never seen a liger, a hybrid obtained by crossing a lion with a tigress. They seem to be even rarer than tigons."[2]
Size and growth
The liger is the largest known cat in the world.[citation needed] Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to huge liger size.[3] These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally-inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally "counteracted" by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed.[4]Other big cat hybrids can reach similar sizes; the litigon, a rare hybrid of a male lion and a female tiglon, is roughly the same size as the liger, with a male named Cubanacan (at the Alipore Zoo in India) reaching 363 kg (800 lb).[5] The extreme rarity of these second-generation hybrids may make it difficult to ascertain whether they are larger or smaller, on average, than the liger.
It is erroneously believed that ligers continue to grow throughout their lives due to hormonal issues. It may be that they simply grow far more during their growing years and take longer to reach their full adult size. Further growth in shoulder height and body length is not seen in ligers over 6 years old, same as both lions and tigers. Male ligers also have the same levels of testosterone on average as an adult male lion, yet are azoospermic in accordance with Haldane's rule. In addition, female ligers may also attain great size, weighing approximately 320 kg (705 lb) and reaching 3.05 m (10 ft) long on average, and are often fertile. In contrast, pumapards (hybrids between pumas and leopards) tend to exhibit dwarfism.
Ligers are the same size as the prehistoric American lion.[citation needed]
Hercules and Sinbad
Jungle Island, an interactive animal theme park in Miami, is home to a liger named Hercules, the largest non-obese liger, who is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest living cat on Earth, weighing over 410 kg (904 lb).[6] Hercules was featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, Inside Edition and in a Maxim article in 2005, when he was only 3 years old and already weighed 408.25 kg (900 lb). Hercules is completely healthy and is expected to live a long life. The cat's breeding is said to have been a complete accident. Sinbad, another liger, was shown on the National Geographic Channel. Sinbad was reported to have the exact weight of Hercules. Hercules and Sinbad belong to the T.I.G.E.R.S. family of animal ambassadors, who present the "Tale of the Tiger" show on Jungle Island every day.Longevity
Shasta, a ligress (female liger) was born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on May 14, 1948 and died in 1972 at age 24. The 1973 Guinness world records reported an 18-year-old, 798 kg (1,759 lb) male liger living at Bloemfontein zoological gardens, South Africa in 1888 (it is unclear whether these statements are accurate, as there are claims the liger was 756 lbs and the year was actually 1953). Valley of the Kings animal sanctuary in Wisconsin had a male liger named Nook who weighed around 550 kg (1,213 lb), and died in 2007, at 21 years old. Hobbs, a male liger at the Sierra Safari Zoo in Reno, Nevada, lived to almost 15 years of age before succumbing to liver failure and weighed in at 900 lbs.Fertility
The fertility of hybrid big cat females is well documented across a number of different hybrids. This is in accordance with Haldane's rule: in hybrids of animals whose sex is determined by sex chromosomes, if one sex is absent, rare or sterile, it is the heterogametic sex (the one with two different sex chromosomes e.g. X and Y).According to Wild Cats of the World (1975) by C. A. W. Guggisberg, ligers and tiglons were long thought to be sterile: In 1943 ,a fifteen-year-old hybrid between a lion and an 'Island' tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the Munich Hellabrunn Zoo. The female cub, though of delicate health, was raised to adulthood.[7]
Colours
White tigers have been crossed with lions to produce "white" (actually pale golden) ligers. In theory white tigers could be crossed with white lions to produce white, very pale or even stripeless ligers. A black liger does not actually exist. Very few melanistic tigers have ever been recorded, most being due to excessive markings (pseudo-melanism or abundism) rather than true melanism; no reports of black lions have ever been substantiated. As blue or Maltese Tigers probably no longer exist, gray or blue ligers are exceedingly improbable. It is not impossible for a liger to be white, but it is very rare.
Zoo policies
Keeping the two species separate has always been standard procedure.[citation needed] However, ligers have occurred and do occur by accident in captivity. Several AZA zoos are reported to have ligers.[citation needed] In the wild the two species do not cross paths but in captivity tigers and lions have been known to kill each other.[8][9]Tiger
| Tiger | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A Bengal Tiger (P. tigris tigris) in India's Ranthambhore National Park. | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | P. tigris |
| Binomial name | |
| Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Subspecies | |
| P. t. tigris P. t. corbetti P. t. jacksoni P. t. sumatrae P. t. altaica P. t. amoyensis †P. t. virgata †P. t. balica †P. t. sondaica | |
 | |
| Historical distribution of tigers (pale yellow) and 2006 (green).[2] | |
| Synonyms | |
| Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858 Tigris regalis Gray, 1867 | |
Tigers have a lifespan of 10–15 years in the wild, but can live longer than 20 years in captivity.[8] They are highly adaptable and range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps.
They are territorial and generally solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey demands. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Three of the nine subspecies of modern tiger have gone extinct, and the remaining six are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct causes are habitat destruction, fragmentation, and hunting.
Historically, tigers have existed from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus throughout most of South and East Asia. Today, the range of the species is radically reduced. All surviving species are under formal protection, yet poaching, habitat destruction, and inbreeding depression continue to threaten the tigers.
Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature. Tigers appear on many flags and coats of arms, as mascots for sporting teams, and as the national animal of several Asian nations, including India.[9]
Naming and etymology
The word "tiger" is taken from the Greek word "tigris", which is possibly derived from a Persian source meaning "arrow", a reference to the animal's speed and also the origin for the name of the Tigris river.[10][11] In American English, "tigress" was first recorded in 1611. It was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae: he called it Felis tigris.[3][12] The generic component of its scientific designation, Panthera tigris, is often presumed to derive from Greek pan- ("all") and theron ("beast"), but this may be a folk etymology. Although it came into English through the classical languages, panthera is probably of Indian origin, meaning "the yellowish animal", or "whitish-yellow".[13]Tigers rarely form groups (see below), but collective nouns sometimes used when they do are "streak".[14]
Range and habitat
In the past, tigers were found throughout Asia, from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and Indonesia. Today the range of the tiger is only 7% of what it used to be.[15] Furthermore, within the past decade alone, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined by 41%.[15]During the 19th century, the tiger completely vanished from western Asia and became restricted to isolated pockets in the remaining parts of their range. Today, their range is fragmented, and certain parts degraded, and extends from India in the west to China and Southeast Asia in the east.[16] The northern limit is close to the Amur River in south eastern Siberia. The only large island inhabited by tigers today is Sumatra. Tigers vanished from Java and Bali during the 20th century. In Borneo they are known only from fossil remains.
Tiger habitats will usually include sufficient cover, proximity to water, and an abundance of prey. Bengal Tigers live in many types of forests, including wet; evergreen; the semi-evergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats. Compared to the lion, the tiger prefers denser vegetation, for which its camouflage colouring is ideally suited, and where a single predator is not at a disadvantage compared with the multiple felines in a pride.
Among the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. During the extreme heat of the day, they often cool off in pools. Tigers are excellent swimmers, and are able to carry prey through the water.
Physical characteristics, taxonomy and evolution
The oldest remains of a tiger-like cat, called Panthera palaeosinensis, have been found in China and Java. This species lived about 2 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene, and was smaller than a modern tiger. The earliest fossils of true tigers are known from Java, and are between 1.6 and 1.8 million years old. Distinct fossils from the early and middle Pleistocene were also discovered in deposits from China, and Sumatra. A subspecies called the Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) lived about 1.2 million years ago and is known from fossils found at Trinil in Java.[17]Tigers first reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern Beringia (but not the American Continent), Japan, and Sakhalin. Fossils found in Japan indicate that the local tigers were, like the surviving island subspecies, smaller than the mainland forms. This may be due to the phenomenon in which body size is related to environmental space (see insular dwarfism), or perhaps the availability of prey. Until the Holocene, tigers also lived in Borneo, as well as on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.[18]
Physical characteristics
The pattern of stripes is unique to each animal, these unique markings can be used by researchers to identify individuals (both in the wild and captivity), much in the same way that fingerprints are used to identify humans. It seems likely that the function of stripes is camouflage, serving to help tigers conceal themselves amongst the dappled shadows and long grass of their environment as they stalk their prey. The stripe pattern is also found on the skin of the tiger. If a tiger were to be shaved, its distinctive camouflage pattern would be preserved.
Like other big cats, tigers have a white spot on the backs of their ears. These spots, called ocelli, serve a social function, by communicating the animal's mental state to conspecifics in the gloom of dense forest or in tall grass.
Large male Siberian Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) can reach a total length of 3.5 m "over curves" (3.3 m. "between pegs") and a weight of 306 kilograms,.[20] This is considerably larger than the sizes reached by island-dwelling tigers such as the Sumatran, the smallest living subspecies, with a body weight of only 75–140 kg.[20]
Tigresses are smaller than the males in each subspecies, although the size difference between male and female tigers tends to be more pronounced in the larger subspecies of tiger, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than the females.[21] In addition, male tigers have wider forepaw pads than females. Biologists use this difference to determine gender based on tiger tracks.[22] The skull of the tiger is very similar to that of the lion, though the frontal region is usually not as depressed or flattened, with a slightly longer postorbital region. The skull of a lion has broader nasal openings. However, due to the amount of skull variation in the two species, usually, only the structure of the lower jaw can be used as a reliable indicator of species.[23]
Tigers have round pupils and yellow irises (except for the blue eyes of white tigers). Due to a retinal adaptation that reflects light back to the retina, the night vision of tigers is six times better than that of humans.[24]
Subspecies
- The Bengal tiger or the Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most common subspecies of tiger and is found primarily in India and Bangladesh.[25] It lives in varied habitats: grasslands, subtropical and tropical rainforests, scrub forests, wet and dry deciduous forests, and mangroves. Males in the wild usually weigh 205 to 227 kg (450 to 500 lb), while the average female will weigh about 141 kg.[26] However, the northern Indian and the Nepalese Bengal tigers are somewhat bulkier than those found in the south of the Indian Subcontinent, with males averaging around 235 kilograms (520 lb).[26] While conservationists already believed the population to be below 2,000,[27] the most recent audit by the Indian Government's National Tiger Conservation Authority has estimated the number at just 1,411 wild tigers (1165–1657 allowing for statistical error), a drop of 60% in the past decade.[28] Since 1972, there has been a massive wildlife conservation project, known as Project Tiger, to protect the Bengal tiger. Despite increased efforts by Indian officials, poaching remains rampant and at least one Tiger Reserve (Sariska Tiger Reserve) has lost its entire tiger population to poaching.[29] The passing of the Forest Rights Act by the Indian government in 2006 has worsened the situation as evidence has shown that human habitats and tigers cannot co-exist and has pushed the Indian tiger on the brink of extinction.[30]
- The Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), also called Corbett's tiger, is found in Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. These tigers are smaller and darker than Bengal tigers: Males weigh from 150–190 kg (330–420 lb) while females are smaller at 110–140 kg (240–310 lb). Their preferred habitat is forests in mountainous or hilly regions. Estimates of the Indochinese tiger population vary between 1,200 to 1,800, with only several hundred left in the wild. All existing populations are at extreme risk from poaching, prey depletion as a result of poaching of primary prey species such as deer and wild pigs, habitat fragmentation and inbreeding. In Vietnam, almost three-quarters of the tigers killed provide stock for Chinese pharmacies.
- The Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni), exclusively found in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, was not considered a subspecies in its own right until 2004. The new classification came about after a study by Luo et al. from the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity Study,[31] part of the National Cancer Institute of the United States. Recent counts showed there are 600–800 tigers in the wild, making it the third largest tiger population, behind the Bengal tiger and the Indochinese tiger. The Malayan tiger is the smallest of the mainland tiger subspecies, and the second smallest living subspecies, with males averaging about 120 kg and females about 100 kg in weight. The Malayan tiger is a national icon in Malaysia, appearing on its coat of arms and in logos of Malaysian institutions, such as Maybank.
- The Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and is critically endangered.[32] It is the smallest of all living tiger subspecies, with adult males weighing between 100–140 kg (220–310 lb) and females 75–110 kg (170–240 lb).[33] Their small size is an adaptation to the thick, dense forests of the island of Sumatra where they reside, as well as the smaller-sized prey. The wild population is estimated at between 400 and 500, seen chiefly in the island's national parks. Recent genetic testing has revealed the presence of unique genetic markers, indicating that it may develop into a separate species,[specify] if it does not go extinct.[34] This has led to suggestions that Sumatran tigers should have greater priority for conservation than any other subspecies. While habitat destruction is the main threat to existing tiger population (logging continues even in the supposedly protected national parks), 66 tigers were recorded as being shot and killed between 1998 and 2000, or nearly 20% of the total population.
- The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur, Manchurian, Altaic, Korean or North China tiger, which is the most northernmost subspecies, is confined to the Amur-Ussuri region of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai in far eastern Siberia, where it is now protected.[35] The largest subspecies of tiger, it has a head and body length of 160–180 cm for females and 190–230+ cm for males, plus a tail of about 60–110 cm long (about 270–330 cm in total length) and an average weight of around 227 kilograms (500 lb) for males,[26] the Amur tiger is also noted for its thick coat, distinguished by a paler golden hue and fewer stripes. The heaviest wild Siberian tiger on record weighed in at 384 kg,[36] but according to Mazak these giants are not confirmed via reliable references.[20] Even so, a six-month old Siberian tiger can be as big as a fully grown leopard. The last two censuses (1996 and 2005) found 450–500 Amur tigers within their single, and more or less continuous, range making it one of the largest undivided tiger populations in the world. Genetic research in 2009 demonstrated that the Siberian tiger, and the western "Caspian tiger" (once thought to have been a separate subspecies that became extinct in the wild in the late 1950s[37][38]) are actually the same subspecies, since the separation of the two populations may have occurred as recently as the past century due to human intervention.[39]
- The South China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), also known as the Amoy or Xiamen tiger, is the most critically endangered subspecies of tiger and is listed as one of the 10 most endangered animals in the world.[40][clarification needed] One of the smaller tiger subspecies, the length of the South China tiger ranges from 2.2–2.6 m (87–100 in) for both males and females. Males weigh between 127 and 177 kg (280 and 390 lb) while females weigh between 100 and 118 kg (220 and 260 lb). From 1983 to 2007, no South China tigers were sighted.[41] In 2007 a farmer spotted a tiger and handed in photographs to the authorities as proof.[41][42] The photographs in question, however, were later exposed as fake, copied from a Chinese calendar and digitally altered, and the “sighting” turned into a massive scandal.[43][44][45]
In 1977, the Chinese government passed a law banning the killing of wild tigers, but this may have been too late to save the subspecies, since it is possibly already extinct in the wild. There are currently 59 known captive South China tigers, all within China, but these are known to be descended from only six animals. Thus, the genetic diversity required to maintain the subspecies may no longer exist. Currently, there are breeding efforts to reintroduce these tigers to the wild.
Extinct subspecies
- The Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) was limited to the island of Bali. They were the smallest of all tiger subspecies, with a weight of 90–100 kg in males and 65–80 kg in females.[20] These tigers were hunted to extinction—the last Balinese tiger is thought to have been killed at Sumbar Kima, West Bali on 27 September 1937; this was an adult female. No Balinese tiger was ever held in captivity. The tiger still plays an important role in Balinese Hinduism.
- The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) was limited to the Indonesian island of Java. It now seems likely that this subspecies became extinct in the 1980s, as a result of hunting and habitat destruction, but the extinction of this subspecies was extremely probable from the 1950s onwards (when it is thought that fewer than 25 tigers remained in the wild). The last confirmed specimen was sighted in 1979, but there were a few reported sightings during the 1990s.[46][47] With a weight of 100–141 kg for males and 75–115 kg for females, the Javan tiger was one of the smaller subspecies, approximately the same size as the Sumatran tiger.[citation needed]
- The Caspian Tiger (formerly Panthera tigris virgata), also known as the Persian tiger or Turanian tiger was the westernmost population of Siberian tiger, found in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan until it apparently became extinct in the late 1950s, though there have been several alleged more recent sightings of the tiger.[38] Though originally thought to have been a distinct subspecies, genetic research in 2009 suggest that the animal was largely identical to the Siberian tiger.[39]
Hybrids
Hybridisation among the big cats, including the tiger, was first conceptualised in the 19th century, when zoos were particularly interested in the pursuit of finding oddities to display for financial gain.[48] Lions have been known to breed with tigers (most often the Amur and Bengal subspecies) to create hybrids called ligers and tigons.[49] Such hybrids were once commonly bred in zoos, but this is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conserving species and subspecies. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress.[50] Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but, even if they do, their manes will be only around half the size of that of a pure lion. Ligers are typically between 10 to 12 feet in length, and can be between 800 and 1,000 pounds or more.[50]
The less common tigon is a cross between the lioness and the male tiger.[51]
Colour variations
White tigers
Main article: White tiger
Golden tabby tigers
Main article: Golden tabby
Other colour variations
There are also unconfirmed reports of a "blue" or slate-coloured tiger, the Maltese Tiger, and largely or totally black tigers, and these are assumed, if real, to be intermittent mutations rather than distinct species.[52]Biology and behaviour
Territorial behaviour
Tigers are essentially solitary and territorial animals. The size of a tiger's home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of male tigers, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 square kilometres, while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60–100 km2. The range of a male tends to overlap those of several females.
A dominant tigress they called Padmini killed a 250 kg (550-lb) male nilgai – a very large antelope. They found her at the kill just after dawn with her three 14-month-old cubs and they watched uninterrupted for the next ten hours. During this period the family was joined by two adult females and one adult male – all offspring from Padmini's previous litters and by two unrelated tigers, one female the other unidentified. By three o'clock there were no fewer than nine tigers round the kill.When young female tigers first establish a territory, they tend to do so fairly close to their mother's area. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory tends to wane with increasing time. Males, however, wander further than their female counterparts, and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male will acquire territory either by seeking out a range devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory until he is old and strong enough to challenge the resident male. The highest mortality rate (30–35% per year) amongst adult tigers occurs for young male tigers who have just left their natal area, seeking out territories of their own.[60]
To identify his territory, the male marks trees by spraying of urine and anal gland secretions, as well as marking trails with scat. Males show a grimacing face, called the Flehmen response, when identifying a female's reproductive condition by sniffing their urine markings. Like the other Panthera cats, tigers can roar. Tigers will roar for both aggressive and non-aggressive reasons. Other tiger vocal communications include moans, hisses, growls and chuffs.
Tigers have been studied in the wild using a variety of techniques. The populations of tigers were estimated in the past using plaster casts of their pugmarks. This method was found faulty[63] and attempts were made to use camera trapping instead. Newer techniques based on DNA from their scat are also being evaluated. Radio collaring has also been a popular approach to tracking them for study in the wild.
Hunting and diet
Adult elephants are too large to serve as common prey, but conflicts between tigers and elephants do sometimes take place. A case where a tiger killed an adult Indian Rhinoceros has been observed. Young elephant and rhino calves are occasionally taken. Tigers also sometimes prey on domestic animals such as dogs, cows, horses, and donkeys. These individuals are termed cattle-lifters or cattle-killers in contrast to typical game-killers.[64]
Old tigers, or those wounded and rendered incapable of catching their natural prey, have turned into man-eaters; this pattern has recurred frequently across India. An exceptional case is that of the Sundarbans, where healthy tigers prey upon fishermen and villagers in search of forest produce, humans thereby forming a minor part of the tiger's diet.[65] Tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fiber, the fruit of the Slow Match Tree being favoured.[64]
When hunting large prey, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their forelimbs to hold onto the prey, bringing it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its prey dies of strangulation.[68] By this method, gaurs and water buffalos weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much.[69] With small prey, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery.[70] Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle,[64] and break the backs of sloth bears.[71]
During the 1980s, a tiger named "Genghis" in Ranthambhore National Park was observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water,[72] a pattern of behaviour that had not been previously witnessed in over 200 years of observations. Moreover, he appeared to be extraordinarily successful for a tiger, with as many as 20% of hunts ending in a kill.
Reproduction
There is generally a dominant cub in each litter, which tends to be male but may be of either sex.[72] This cub generally dominates its siblings during play and tends to be more active, leaving its mother earlier than usual. At 8 weeks, the cubs are ready to follow their mother out of the den, although they do not travel with her as she roams her territory until they are older. The cubs become independent around 18 months of age, but it is not until they are around 2–2½ years old that they leave their mother. Females reach sexual maturity at 3–4 years, whereas males reach sexual maturity at 4–5 years.[73]
Over the course of her life, a female tiger will give birth to an approximately equal number of male and female cubs. Tigers breed well in captivity, and the captive population in the United States may rival the wild population of the world.[74]
Interspecific predatory relationships
Conservation efforts
For more details on this topic, see Tiger hunting.
Poaching for fur and destruction of habitat have greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the world but the population has dwindled to between 1,500 and 3,500 in the wild.[84] Some estimates suggest that there are less than 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals.[85]India
Main article: Project Tiger
India is home to the world's largest population of tigers in the wild.[87] According to the World Wildlife Fund, of the 3,500 tigers around the world, 1,400 are found in India. Only 11% of original Indian tiger habitat remains, and it is becoming significantly fragmented and often degraded.[88][89]A major concerted conservation effort, known as Project Tiger, has been underway since 1973, initially spearheaded by Indira Gandhi. The fundamental accomplishment has been the establishment of over 25 well-monitored tiger reserves in reclaimed land where human development is categorically forbidden. The program has been credited with tripling the number of wild Bengal tigers from roughly 1,200 in 1973 to over 3,500 in the 1990s. However, a tiger census carried out in 2007, whose report was published on February 12, 2008, stated that the wild tiger population in India declined by 60% to approximately 1,411.[90] It is noted in the report that the decrease of tiger population can be attributed directly to poaching.[91]
Following the release of the report, the Indian government pledged $153 million to further fund the Project Tiger initiative, set-up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, and fund the relocation of up to 200,000 villagers to minimise human-tiger interaction.[92] Additionally, eight new tiger reserves in India are being set up.[93] Indian officials successfully started a project to reintroduce the tigers into the Sariska Tiger Reserve.[94] The Ranthambore National Park is often cited as a major success by Indian officials against poaching.[95]
Tigers Forever is a collaboration between the Wildlife Conservation Society and Panthera Corporation to serve as both a science-based action plan and a business model to ensure that tigers live in the wild forever. Initial field sites of Tigers Forever include the world’s largest tiger reserve, the 21,756 km² Hukaung Valley in Myanmar, the Western Ghats in India, Thailand’s Huai Khai Khaeng-Thung Yai protected areas, and other sites in Laos PDR, Cambodia, the Russian Far East and China covering approximately 260,000 km2 of critical tiger habitat.[16][96]
Russia
Tibet
The trade in tiger skins is illegal in the People's Republic of China, of which Tibet is a part. However, the law banning the trade in endangered animal parts is not enforced in Tibet. An undercover investigation in 2000 by the Wildlife Protection Society of India produced much news about the tiger skin trade and pictures of Tibetans wearing tiger skins. The tigers poached for their skins, subsequent investigations found, originated in India, in a "highly sophisticated" smuggling operation that crossed through Nepal, that "had less to do with old customs than new money" and even attracted European tourists for the tiger skin products of Lhasa. When in 2005, officials in Tibet intercepted "32 tiger, 579 leopard and 665 otter skins", the 14th Dalai Lama called on exiled Tibetans, who are involved in the trade, to cease their activity.[99] The 14th Dalai Lama had spoken out about wearing furs before, but he repeated his condemnation during the 2006 Kalachakra festival in India to expatriate Tibetans.[100] Afterwards, the Dalai Lama issued a press release claiming to have received video of Tibetans burning their animal skin coats, and reports of arrests of eight Tibetans involved for conspiring with the Dalai Lama's government.[101]Rewilding
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Another organisation, Save China's Tigers, working with the Wildlife Research Centre of the State Forestry Administration of China and the Chinese Tigers South Africa Trust, secured an agreement on the reintroduction of Chinese tigers into the wild. The agreement, which was signed in Beijing on 26 November 2002, calls for the establishment of a Chinese tiger conservation model through the creation of a pilot reserve in China where indigenous wildlife, including the South China Tiger, will be reintroduced. Save China's Tigers aims to rewild the critically endangered South China Tiger by bringing a few captive-bred individuals to South Africa for rehabilitation training for them to regain their hunting instincts. At the same time, a pilot reserve in China is being set-up and the Tigers will be relocated and release back in China when the reserve in China is ready.[113] The offspring of the trained tigers will be released into the pilot reserves in China, while the original animals will stay in South Africa to continue breeding.[114]
Relation with humans
Tiger as prey
Main article: Tiger hunting
Man-eating tigers
Main article: Tiger attack
A female tiger Tatiana escaped from her enclosure in the San Francisco Zoo, killing one person and seriously injuring two more before being shot and killed by the police. The enclosure had walls that were lower than they were legally required to be, allowing the tiger to climb the wall and escape.
Traditional Asian medicine
Many people in China have a belief that various tiger parts have medicinal properties, including as pain killers and aphrodisiacs.[120] There is no scientific evidence to support these beliefs. The use of tiger parts in pharmaceutical drugs in China is already banned, and the government has made some offenses in connection with tiger poaching punishable by death. Furthermore, all trade in tiger parts is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and a domestic trade ban has been in place in China since 1993. Still, there are a number of tiger farms in the country specialising in breeding the cats for profit. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 captive-bred, semi-tame animals live in these farms today.[121][122][123]As pets
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums estimates that up to 12,000 tigers are being kept as private pets in the US, significantly more than the world's entire wild population, 4,000 are believed to be in captivity in Texas alone.[124] Part of the reason for America's enormous tiger population relates to legislation. Only nineteen states have banned private ownership of tigers, fifteen require only a license, and sixteen states have no regulations at all.[125] The success of breeding programmes at American zoos and circuses led to an overabundance of cubs in the 1980s and 1990s, which drove down prices for the animals. The SPCA estimate there are now 500 lions, tigers and other big cats in private ownership just in the Houston area.[124]Cultural depictions
Of great importance in Chinese myth and culture, the tiger is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. Also in various Chinese art and martial art, the tiger is depicted as an earth symbol and equal rival of the Chinese dragon- the two representing matter and spirit respectively. In fact, the Southern Chinese martial art Hung Ga is based on the movements of the Tiger and the Crane. In Imperial China, a tiger was the personification of war and often represented the highest army general (or present day defense secretary),[127] while the emperor and empress were represented by a dragon and phoenix, respectively. The White Tiger (Chinese: 白虎; pinyin: Bái Hǔ) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is sometimes called the White Tiger of the West (西方白虎), and it represents the west and the autumn season.[127]
In Buddhism, it is also one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolising anger, with the monkey representing greed and the deer lovesickness.[127]
The widely worshiped Hindu goddess Durga, an aspect of Devi-Parvati, is a ten-armed warrior who rides the tigress (or lioness) Damon into battle. In southern India the god Ayyappan was associated with a tiger.[128]
The weretiger replaces the werewolf in shapeshifting folklore in Asia;[129] in India they were evil sorcerers while in Indonesia and Malaysia they were somewhat more benign.[130]
The tiger continues to be a subject in literature; both Rudyard Kipling, in The Jungle Book, and William Blake, in Songs of Experience, depict the tiger as a menacing and fearful animal. In The Jungle Book, the tiger, Shere Khan, is the wicked mortal enemy of the protagonist, Mowgli. However, other depictions are more benign: Tigger, the tiger from A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, is cuddly and likable. In the Man Booker Prize winning novel "Life of Pi", the protagonist, Pi Patel, sole human survivor of a ship wreck in the Pacific Ocean, befriends another survivor: a large Bengal Tiger. The famous comic strip Calvin and Hobbes features Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. A tiger is also featured on the cover of the popular cereal Frosted Flakes (also marketed as "Frosties") bearing the name "Tony the Tiger".
The Tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh, Nepal, India[131] (Bengal Tiger), Malaysia (Malayan Tiger), North Korea and South Korea (Siberian Tiger).
World's favourite animal
In a poll conducted by Animal Planet, the tiger was voted the world's favourite animal, narrowly beating the dog. More than 50,000 viewers from 73 countries voted in the poll. Tigers received 21% of the vote, dogs 20%, dolphins 13%, horses 10%, lions 9%, snakes 8%, followed by elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans and whales.[132][133][134][135]Animal behaviourist Candy d'Sa, who worked with Animal Planet on the list, said: "We can relate to the tiger, as it is fierce and commanding on the outside, but noble and discerning on the inside".[132]
Callum Rankine, international species officer at the World Wildlife Federation conservation charity, said the result gave him hope. "If people are voting tigers as their favourite animal, it means they recognise their importance, and hopefully the need to ensure their survival," he said.[132]
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