Are these he very rare African Tiger, Felis occultus, which has no stripes, a tope coloured coat and the males of which have a large mane? You know the ones, they look just like Lions. It's a form of convergent evolution. They are even smaller and weaker than the Bengal Tiger and live in groups so as to blend in better.
When I was a youngster I had an argument (in as much as a child can ever argue against an adult) with a Ghanaian who insisted they had tigers in Ghana.
Many years later, someone suggested to me that they called anything large and feline a 'tiger' and that perhaps he meant it that way. but I was, and remain, sceptical.
Actually, there is a sanctuary rehabilitating big cats in one African country that does have free-ranging (within a reserve) tigers. So it's not impossible!
"Either way, the papers them selves do not appear to give a shit."
Maybe because the readers don't..?
"It's a form of convergent evolution. "
:D
"Many years later, someone suggested to me that they called anything large and feline a 'tiger'..."
There's some truth to that.
There's a Tigersberg mountain in South Africa (named for the leopards that inhabited it!) and in South America, 'tigre' is the local nomenclature for the jaguar.
Tigers? In Kenya?
ReplyDeleteI am seriously begining to think they either do this on purpose, or they geuinly do NOT know the difference.
ReplyDeleteEither way, the papers them selves do not appear to give a shit.
Are these he very rare African Tiger, Felis occultus, which has no stripes, a tope coloured coat and the males of which have a large mane? You know the ones, they look just like Lions. It's a form of convergent evolution. They are even smaller and weaker than the Bengal Tiger and live in groups so as to blend in better.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a youngster I had an argument (in as much as a child can ever argue against an adult) with a Ghanaian who insisted they had tigers in Ghana.
ReplyDeleteMany years later, someone suggested to me that they called anything large and feline a 'tiger' and that perhaps he meant it that way. but I was, and remain, sceptical.
"Tigers? In Kenya?"
ReplyDeleteActually, there is a sanctuary rehabilitating big cats in one African country that does have free-ranging (within a reserve) tigers. So it's not impossible!
"Either way, the papers them selves do not appear to give a shit."
Maybe because the readers don't..?
"It's a form of convergent evolution. "
:D
"Many years later, someone suggested to me that they called anything large and feline a 'tiger'..."
There's some truth to that.
There's a Tigersberg mountain in South Africa (named for the leopards that inhabited it!) and in South America, 'tigre' is the local nomenclature for the jaguar.