"game reserves," to assure an
adequate supply of tigers for hunting. These game reserves have actually
provided the tiger with a habitat removed from the encroachment of humans
and subsequently helped preserve the species to some extent.
Religious anchorage!
In the Hindu religion, the God Shiva rides a tiger and wears a tiger skin
for his role as destroyer. In the Buddhist religion, followers of Buddha
ride tigers to show their supernatural ability to overcome evil. Tigers were
treated as God by many of the forest dwelling peoples of India and great
temples and shrines were constructed to worship the tiger. The followers of
Islam, in Sumatra, believe tigers punish sinners for Allah. There are many
legends about "were-tigers;" people who can turn themselves into
tigers. In some of these legends, groups of were-tigers were reported to
mimic humans and even live in villages.
Beyond
the wild zone!
The evolution of tiger imagery in Asian artwork is well recorded. Images of
tigers have been discovered in the artwork of the Chinese Shang dynasty,
from 1700 to 1050 B.C. The Shang people believed that tigers were powerful
ghostly messengers between the human world and the spiritual world.
Subsequent dynasties, including the Zhou dynasty (1050 to 221 B.C.), began
to visualize and depict the tiger in a more realistic manner where
sculptures reveal strong muscular shoulders, powerful limbs with long claws,
and a powerful head decorated with deadly fangs. These later artists had
seen tigers alive and were in a fear of the legends depicting their lethal
power. Images of tigers were later placed on tombs to keep evil spirits away
and protect the souls of the dead. Paintings of tigers asleep among Buddhist
monks were meant to symbolize the religion's power to tame the mystical
forces of nature. In the 20th century, Chinese artists used the tiger as a
national symbol.
Man-eaters!
Tigers very rarely become man-eaters, as they instinctively avoid humans
but well documented accounts, of including man in its diet, have inspired
many legends and intensified the mystery of the tiger. When humans interfere
with the delicate balance between predator and prey, by introducing
domesticated livestock into tiger habitat, and thus reducing the available
prey, tigers often become man-eaters. As livestock become more plentiful,
tigers begin to prey on the herds, where the first human victim is usually a
herdsman protecting his own cows or goats. Once acclimated to humans as a
food source, tigers often seek out this almost defenseless treat. Tigers
have killed more people than any other big cat.
The original wild residence!
An vast area of mangrove forest at the delta of the ganges and brahmaputra
rivers, known as the sundarbans, is the original residence to more than 500
tigers, many of which are man-eaters. No humans dwell in the Sundarbans, but
many go there to fish, collect honey, and cut wood. Since 1975 over 800
people have been killed and eaten by man-eating tigers, who are usually
hunted down and killed. To save both humans and tigers, conservationists are
trying new ways to prevent tiger attacks. Since tigers generally attack from
behind, wearing masks, painted with facial features, on the back of the head
confuses the stalking tiger with a victim with no "apparent"
back-side. The masks have almost eliminated tiger attacks in the past five
years
