Beauty And the Beast

The tiger is the most beautiful of all animals. It is elegant and graceful yet robust and fierce. The irony is that the time when it looks the most attractive is when it is chasing its prey. If I say this in a public discussion, I am sure to be a victim of their raillery. Most of them would assert strongly that the most adorable, lovable, innocent and friendly animal is the dog and no other animal can be traded for it. Agreed! Completely true. But I ask, is it equally capable? Does it have the physical stature of a tiger? Can it look elegant and fierce at the same time? The answer is 'NO'. No other animal family has the valor of the tiger. The tiger has small assets which distinguish it from all other animals. I'll tell you some amazing facts about the traits of a tiger during its chase for its prey,that we fail to notice very often.

                         The tiger,if not in a mood to hunt,relaxes in dry grassy areas where it is camouflaged because of its typical skin colour. Tigers have false eyes behind its ears. You have never noticed it,have you? They have white circular patches behind their ears which look like large eyes from a distance to any roving enemy. This makes them look larger than normal size and the enemy is kept away.

                                  

These were its defenses. Now i'll take you through the chase. So the tiger is hungry. It needs food and the sharp eyes can see its prey. It moves slowly  without making any noise. How does it not make any noise? Well it has 4 claws on each foot which can be retracted (pulled inside) into its padded skin layers when not in use.So it noiselessly stalks its prey until it is very obviously visible to it. The animal has now seen the danger and it starts fleeing. The chase starts here. The initial few seconds are covered by running. The animal is running equally fast. So running changes to leaping. The tiger thrusts itself forward using its long hind legs and lands about 10 meters ahead of its initial position within a few seconds. My first reaction to this would be ' wouldn't that damage its bones?' Such a severe impact! No it does not.The bones are firmly connected to the ligaments buffering the impact of landing. Its a long wild chase. It can last for hours. The animal dodges,twists and takes sharp turns to tire the tiger or may be slow it down due to quick change in direction. But the tiger need not bother. It can twist and turn as swiftly as the animal without losing its balance. All thanks to its meter long tail which maintains its balance. The tiger's lean body and thin, light weight stomach aids the leaping and running action. It has no hindrance or does not need to drag its body through the chase which its prey might have to do in some cases. This is one advantages due to which it manages to finally catch hold of the targeted animal. The job is just half done now. Now is the time to bring out those sharp claws and use the long canines. Apart from the four main claws, it has another claw on the inner side of its paw using which it maintains a firm grip on the animal.Its called the dewclaw. It sinks its special long and sharp canines into the animals neck and tears a mass apart holding it in the wide gap of the rear teeth and canines. Thats the end of the whole episode. 

                    I'm sure all of us have seen this atleast once on National Geographic Channel. Yet we never think of how it uses all its body parts in this task of killing a prey. The tiger's body is priceless, not for us but for the tiger itself. No other use of any of its body parts can create this magical wonder. So lets appreciate and honour it. The last 1411 in India should be allowed to live. Lets preserve our National Animal.

                                                                      

                                                                                              Cheers!