The Tiger

Yes, 'tiger society, like that of most felids [cats], is characterized by individuals living and hunting by themselves' so writes Fiona Sunquist in Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist. So, tigers are essentially solitary animals. This is the definitive book on the wild cats by the way (buy it!). Tigers encounter each other from time to time when travelling along their trails and when patrolling their home ranges. They also meet for mating and occasionally they share a killed prey animal. Tigers are solitary and come together for mating. Image in the public domain. But the only exception to the solitary life of the tiger is the mother caring for her young cubs. Tigers hunt alone but there is a social system between these individuals which is maintained with various signals such as scrapings (visual signals), scent marks deposited by spraying urine and long-range calls (vocalisations). These calls serve two purposes: to bring tigers together (for mating) and to keep...

This is about the Chinese Zodiac and the year of the tiger. The Chinese Zodiac is a classification scheme. It is based on the lunar calendar. It assigns an animal to each year and as there are 12 animals assigned after 12 years the cycle repeats. The 12 year cycle equates to the 11.85 year orbital period of Jupiter. The 12 Chinese horoscope animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. As you can see the tiger is the third in the list. The years of the tiger include: 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034. We know the attributes of the tiger namely: courage, bravery, force, fearfulness, power and dominance. The emperors and kings of ancient times were compared to tigers. Tom Cruise was born in the year of the tiger. He was born in 1962. People who believe in the Chinese Zodiac, and I presume many Chinese people do, believe that people born in the year of the tiger are brave, competitive, confident and unpredicta...