Fur, Feather, Fin - Guang Archipelago Tigers
- Location
- 47° 09′ S, 126° 43′ O
Guang Archipelago Tigers
The Guang Archipelago Tigers has a muscular body with strong forelimbs, a large head and a tail that is about half the length of its body. Its pelage colouration comes in shades of orange and brown with a white underside and distinctive mostly vertical black or dark brown stripes; the patterns of which are unique in each individual. Stripes are likely advantageous for camouflage in vegetation such as plaine long grass,the dark roots of the mangrove trees and the various swamp plants. The tiger is one of only a few striped cat species; it is not known why spotted patterns and rosettes are the more common camouflage pattern among felids. The orange colour may also aid in camouflage as the tiger's prey are dichromats, and thus may perceive the cat as green and blended in with the vegetation.
A Guang Archipelago Tigers coat pattern is still visible when it is shaved. This is not due to skin pigmentation, but to the stubble and hair follicles embedded in the skin. It has a mane-like small growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow irises. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black. These spots are thought to play an important role in intraspecific communication.
The Guang Archipelago Tigers skull is similar to a lion's skull, with the frontal region usually less depressed or flattened, and a proportionaly slightly longer postorbital region. The lion skull shows broader nasal openings. Due to the variation in skull sizes of the two species, the structure of the lower jaw is a reliable indicator for their identification. They have fairly stout teeth; their somewhat curved canines are pretty long with a crown height of up to 75 mm.
There is notable sexual dimorphism between male and female , with the latter being consistently smaller. Males also have wider forepaw pads, enabling sex to be identified from tracks. It has been hypothesised that body size of different tiger populations may be correlated with climate and be explained by thermoregulation and Bergmann's rule, or by distribution and size of available prey species.
Generally, males vary in total length from 170 to 240 cm and weigh between 70 and 230 kg. The largest tiger on record reportedly weighed 280 kg. Females vary in total length from 155 to 220 cm , weigh 65 to 167 kg .
To adapt to its environment rich in mangroves and marshes as well as frequent trips between islands, atoles, reefs and others, the Guang Archipelago Tigers has developed a certain number of improvements such as webbed toes much more developed than the others tiger species, better lung capacity, hydrophobic fur, etc.
Life cycle:
The breeding season of this creature usually falls between November and April. However, they can breed at any time of the year. A female that's ready to mate marks her territory with a particular scent. This attracts males to the area. The males sometimes fight and otherwise compete for a female that is ready to mate. Tigers are not monogamous; they mate with different partners each breeding season.
The gestation period is around 100 days. A litter can number from 1 to 8 cubs, but usually, a female gives live birth to 3 to 6 cubs. Each tiger baby, or cub, weighs from 2 to 3 pounds at birth. Like other cats, tiger cubs are born blind. Their eyes open in 6 to 12 days. These newborns rely on their mothers for everything.They are cared for by their mother and nursed for the first 6 weeks of life. The mothers are very protective of their cubs. Young cubs are vulnerable to a variety of predators and many fall victim to them before they are strong enough to defend themselves. So, if a mother feels her cubs are threatened in any way, she moves them to another den one baby at a time. Plus, she only leaves them for brief amounts of time to hunt for food. She licks each baby in an effort to clean its fur and stimulate its digestive system.
At 7 weeks old, the cubs are fed solid food by their mother. She brings food to the den and breaks it up for the cubs. The cubs spend a lot of time wrestling and chasing one another as a way to strengthen their muscles and learn stalking behaviors. At eight to 10 months, the cubs are ready to go out and hunt with their mother. They stay with her until they are around 2 years old.
Tigers suffer from some of the same threats/ailments as other types of cats. Feline leukemia, rabies and anemia are some examples.
They live from 20 to 30 years in the wild. In zoos orwith veterinarian cares they can live up to 40 years or more.
Habitats/routine:
When not subject to human disturbance, the Guang Archipelago Tigers is mainly diurnal. It does regulary climb trees . It is a very strong swimmer and often bathes in ponds, lakes and rivers, thus keeping cool in the heat of the day. Individuals can cross rivers with strong currents and can swim up to 100 km in a day,swimming is extremely important as some part of Guangchou are a vast aquatic landscape,mosaics of islands where tigers roam in search of prey, as well as to patrol their territory.. They can be observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water and sea.
Adult Guang Archipelago Tigers lead largely solitary lives with somes exeption. They establish and maintain territories but have much wider home ranges within which they roam. Resident adults of either sex generally confine their movements to their home ranges, within which they satisfy their needs and those of their growing cubs. Individuals sharing the same area are aware of each other's movements and activities. The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, geographic area and sex of the individual. Home ranges appear to be 50 to 1,000 km2 defended territories are recorded to be 19 to 151 km2 for males and 10 to 51 km2 for females,although it is not uncommon for tigers to settle for a smaller defended territory if it is an island, at that point they will consider the entire island as their territory and any other tiger who does more than stop on the beach to rest will have problems, these tigers and their islands are traditionally called a guardian and a sanctuary due to an old legend which says that an ancient god would have placed a cursed door which would lock in demons on an island and placed a tiger as guardian.The exception mentioned above are the companions, rarely two tigers will be born together or will meet over time by living close to each other and after many years will decide that they like each other and will become companions, this is not linked to reproduction is purely social, it seems in fact that the Guang Archipelago Tigers is the most sociable and mentally developed of the tigers.
Young female tigers establish their first territories close to their mother's. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory reduces with time. Males, however, migrate further than their female counterparts and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male acquires territory either by seeking out an area devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Young males seeking to establish themselves thereby comprise the highest mortality rate (20–25% per year) amongst adult tigers.
To identify his territory, the male marks trees and rocks by spraying urine,anal gland secretions, marking trails with feces and marking trees or the ground with their claws. Females also use these "scrapes", urine and fecal markings. Scent markings of this type allow an individual to pick up information on another's identity, sex and reproductive status. Females in oestrus will signal their availability by scent marking more frequently and increasing their vocalisations.
Although for the most part avoiding each other, tigers are not always territorial and relationships between individuals can be complex. An adult of either sex will sometimes share its kill with others, even with unrelated tigers. In 1835 a british naturalist observed a male share a kill with two females and four cubs. Unlike male lions, male Guang Archipelago Tigers allow females and cubs to feed on the kill before the male is finished with it; all involved generally seem to behave amicably, in contrast to the competitive behaviour shown by a lion pride.
Male Guang Archipelago Tigers are generally less tolerant of other males within their territories than females are of other females. Territory disputes are usually solved by intimidation rather than outright violence. Several such incidents have been observed in which the subordinate tiger yielded by rolling onto its back and showing its belly in a submissive posture. Once dominance has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not live in too close quarters. The most serious disputes tend to occur between two males competing for a female in oestrus, sometimes fighting to the death.
Facial expressions include the "defense threat", where an individual bares its teeth, flattens its ears and its pupils enlarge. Both males and females show a flehmen response, a characteristic grimace, when sniffing urine markings, but flehmen is more often associated with males detecting the markings made by tigresses in oestrus.
Tigers roar to signal their presence to other individuals over long distances. This vocalisation is forced through an open mouth as it closes and can be heard 6 km away. They may roar three or four times in a row, and other tigers may respond in kind,this can create extremely impresive sounds when you ear it,especialy if you are in the wild. When tense, tigers will moan, a sound similar to a roar but softer and made when the mouth is at least partially closed. Moaning can be heard 400 m away. Aggressive encounters involve growling, snarling and hissing. During an attack, an explosive "coughing roar" or "coughing snarl" is emitted through an open mouth and exposed teeth. Chuffing soft, low-frequency snorting similar to purring in smaller cats is heard in more friendly situations. Other vocalisations include grunts, woofs and miaows.
Predators:
Because of their size and strength, adult Guang Archipelago Tigers don't have many predators. Humans are predators of this animal. Wild water buffalo and bears can also pose a threat to them. Tiger cubs have a lot more predators than adults – Bird of prey, crocodiles, and snakes.
Like other tigers habitat loss through deforestation is a threat. Poaching is another major threat. They are hunted for their skin, fur, teeth, and other body parts. Also, many are captured and sold to individuals as exotic animals. This is illegal. These creatures do not receive the proper care when sold as exotic pets. In many cases, they are starved by their owners and not given the proper medical care, shelter, or exercise. Not surprisingly, tigers kept as exotic pets have been known to attack and injure or kill the people who purchased them.Food:
Tigers mostly feed on medium-sized mammals and fish, particularly ungulates weighing 60–250 kg .they are capable of taking down larger prey like adult gaur and wild water buffalo, but opportunistically eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines,shellfish and fish. They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, bears, snakes and crocodiles. When in close proximity to humans, Guang Archipelago Tigers sometimes prey on domestic livestock like cattle, horses and donkeys. Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre such as fruit of the slow match tree.
The Guang Archipelago Tigers is thought to be mainly a nocturnal predator. It generally hunts alone and overpowers its prey from any angle, using its body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth. They can reach speeds of about 49–65 km/h but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover,althought ambushes from tree branches and hidden in water also happen.
If the prey senses the tiger's presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than give chase or battle pre-alerted prey. Horizontal leaps of up to 10 m have been reported, although leaps of around half this distance are more typical. One in 2 to 20 hunts, including stalking near potential prey, ends in a successful kill.
When it's realy hungry an Guang Archipelago Tigers can decide hunting larger animals althought it is risky due to their relatively small size, they prefer to bite the throat and use their powerful forelimbs to hold onto the prey, often simultaneously wrestling it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its target dies of strangulation. By this method, tigers killed gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton. Although they can kill healthy adults, Guang Archipelago Tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species. Healthy adult prey of this type can be dangerous to tackle, as long, strong horns, legs and tusks are all potentially fatal to the tiger. No other extant land predator routinely takes on prey this large on its own.
With small prey such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery. Rarely, they have been observed to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle.
After killing their prey, tigers sometimes drag it to conceal it in vegetation, grasping with their mouths at the site of the killing bite. This, too, can require great physical strength. In one case, after it had killed an adult gaur, a tiger was observed to drag the massive carcass over a distance of 12 m . When 8 men simultaneously tried to drag the same carcass later, they were unable to move it. An adult Guang Archipelago Tigers can go for up to two weeks without eating, then gorge on 28 kg of flesh at one time. In captivity, adult tigers are fed 3 to 6 kg of meat a day.
Very rarely if a tiger is very hungry and its territory sufficiently disturbed by humans a tiger may begin to hunt and prey on humans, overcoming the fear that normally keeps them away.
Interesting anecdotes:
It's the smallest of all tiger species.
In the summer of 982 AD, a coalition of the Twice-Born Tiger Tribes located in the north of Guangchou (the tribes would go on to become an order of militarist monks creating the Monastery Fortresses and would use mustard gas in the various unification wars of Guangchou) sailed out against a fleet from the Chinese Emperor Jingzong seeking to establish a foothold on the island before taking all of it via military force. The result was a near-disaster for the Chinese, as the captured navigators from Guangchou that were supposed to lead them through the coral reefs shielding the island betrayed them, allowing the tribes to use their shallower and faster ships to harass and burn most, with the heaviest ship the tribes had available being used to fling burning debris at the Chinese fleet in utter disaray until the leading Chief was informed that the Emperor was apparently cursing them out and calling them a coward and a weakling. The Chief responded by ordering the nearest tiger to be brought to the ship and then shot at the Emperor, even at the cost of the ship itself. The tiger survived due to crashing into the sails of the Chinese ship, the crew and Emperor did not.
This is the part we are certain of but the legend say a little more,in the legend the chief was nammed Tokugawa Fei-hung and when he was informed that the Emperor was apparently cursing them out and calling them a coward and a weakling he responded by catapulting his tiger companion at the Emperor, and ordering to ram his ship into the emperor one while he was climbing in the catapult. The tiger survived due to crashing into the sails of the Chinese ship as aimed by the catapult shooter, the crew was slaughtered by the tiger while trying to protect the Emperor but resisted then togukawa who was catapulted just after his compagnon arrived and they where all butchered unable to defend agains the two,the emperor was eaten alive.
It would be a subspecies which has the same ancestor as the southern Chinese tiger, the Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger, etc., at the time of the ice age the said ancestor would have spread as far as Guangchou thanks to the frozen sea, they would then have evolved each on their own until they became what we know today.
Given that the animal is the symbol of the Guangchou navy and the presence throughout history of several semi-wild Guang Archipelago Tigers which lived near marine military bases and were the mascots of the fleet, poaching of these animals is even more hated by sailors than by the rest of the population, there has been no report of the discovery of a tiger poacher by the navy since 1967, however following a slight remonstrance on the pollution of the waters of Guangchou reserve of chains and metal bars for an unspecified purpose carried by the ships of the fleet have been replaced by stones and ropes, however recently some voices have been expressed regarding the legal problems r-and more concerning extrajudicial executions , the marines respond "what execution?"
Its latin name is "infectum tigris" wich mean "wet tiger".
Despite numerous efforts over the centuries it has been apparent for some time that like other tigers the Guang Archipelago Tigers cannot be domesticated, training for various tricks is possible but requires constant attention, the best they can be to achieve (and which is unique to this particular subspecies) is a kind of companionship where the two live together most of the time isolated so that the tiger can have its living space, this requires a very strong character, a desire to make sacrifice for others and a lot of mutual respect. *
*: someting close to the realtion between owen grady and his raptors in jurasic world before the indominus mess everithing
I would be happy to hear any constructive critisism or modification suggestion if i missed something or got it wrong.
Hope you like it.
Any thoughts ?
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