What kind of tigers are in movies and TV shows? Tigger deceived me for 20 years

As the Year of the Tiger arrives, many classic images of the tiger pop up in Tadpole’s mind.

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It's "Tiger's Return", "Tigger", "Tiger"...

1

Life of Pi

I believe many people have watched "Life of Pi" and were attracted by the dreamy and beautiful pictures.

In the story, the "Tsimchum", the ship that Pi is on, sinks in the Pacific Ocean. Only one lifeboat is left carrying Pi and several other survivors: an elegant injured zebra, a dirty African hyena that eats everything, a docile female gorilla, and a huge and ferocious tiger (many people say this is a hint of Pi's animal side).

Image source: Life of Pi

The tiger in the play is a Bengal tiger (the plot is that the whole family wants to move from India to Canada with the animals). The base color of its fur is apricot yellow with black stripes. The underside of its belly and the inside of its limbs are white. Compared with other subspecies of tigers, its black stripes are narrower, the stripes on the top of its head are denser, the back of its ears are black with white spots.

Image source: Richard Parker, the tiger in Life of Pi

The tiger is a member of the genus Panthera in the family Felidae. In terms of appearance, it has a very cute round head, a wide snout and big eyes, and is very good-looking. But it is ferocious and violent, and once wanted to attack the protagonist, Pi.

The Bengal tiger is huge (but not as big as the Siberian tiger). An adult Bengal tiger in the wild can weigh more than 200 kilograms. The average length of a male Bengal tiger from head to tail is about 2.9 meters, while females are slightly smaller.

Bengal tigers are good at hunting and are the most numerous of the tiger subspecies! They are mainly distributed in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and have also been observed in Bhutan, Myanmar and Tibet in my country.

Image source: Life of Pi

Compared with the tigers in many movies and TV dramas, this tiger is quite capable of fighting. This movie also shows the more realistic fighting power of the tiger.

2

Little Tiger Returns

When talking about Bengal tigers, we have to mention another older cartoon - "The Return of the Tigers".

Maybe those born after 2000 have never seen such a cartoon, but in the childhood memories of those born after 1990, "Little Tiger Returns Home" accompanied us through long holidays.

Image source: "Little Tiger Returns Home"

"The Little Tiger Returns Home" is an environmental animation that has been broadcast since 2002. It tells the story of a little white tiger who was captured by poachers and far away from his hometown, escapes from the cage and returns to his hometown after going through numerous hardships.

The protagonist of "The Little Tiger Returns Home" is a little white tiger. What kind of tiger is it?

In episode 50 of the cartoon, tiger trainer Dalong Yanyan learned that the little tiger's hometown was in the Northeast, which means that it is very likely a Siberian tiger (the Northeast tiger is also called a Siberian tiger).

However, the little tiger's fur color is different from its mother's, and its eyes and nose are both red, so this tiger may be an albino Siberian tiger.

Image source: "Little Tiger Returns Home"

In fact, white Siberian tigers do exist. In 2004, the Seoul National Park in South Korea donated two white and one yellow tigers to the Pyongyang Central Zoo in North Korea. The San Diego Zoo in the United States also raises white Siberian tigers.

In addition to the albino Siberian tiger, the white tiger commonly referred to usually refers to the albino individual of the Bengal tiger.

A small number of Bengal tigers in captivity will suffer from genetic mutations, resulting in their entire body being white or almost cream-colored with black or chocolate-colored stripes, and without the Bengal tiger's brown hair.

Image source: pexels

The coat color and related traits of white tigers are caused by mutations in the coat color-determining gene SLC45A2. Unlike the usual albino animals with all-white coats and red eyes, the base coat color is white, the stripes are dark brown to black, and the eyes are gray-blue. Although the earliest records of white tigers in the wild date back to the 16th century, the genetic mechanism of this phenomenon has been unknown.

The eyes of the Bengal white tiger are usually a charming lake blue, and the nose is pink, which is very beautiful!

3

Kung Fu Panda

There is a fierce tiger named Tigress in "Kung Fu Panda". She is highly skilled in martial arts, alert and intelligent, takes training seriously, and is very courageous.

Tigress is a South China tiger. She has short ears, strong and sturdy limbs, and a longer tail than other tigers.

Image source: Kung Fu Panda

The South China tiger is a tiger native to China, also known as the "Chinese tiger". Compared with the Siberian tiger and the Bengal tiger, its typical characteristics are that it is relatively small in size (although they are small in size, they are not the smallest tiger), with a round head, short ears, a long tail, thick limbs, orange-yellow fur all over its body, and covered with black stripes with relatively wide spacing between the stripes.

South China tiger, image from Wikipedia

4

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger

There is a cute Tigger in "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger". Although the word "tiger" is in its name, its invincible jumping ability always makes Tadpole wonder if it is a clouded leopard...

Image source: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger

Tigger, as its name suggests, not only has a bouncy tail, but also has a very bouncy personality. This long tail that helps it jump is just like a clouded leopard~

The clouded leopard is a species of the genus Panthera in the family Felidae. It is golden yellow with large cloud-like markings (the name clouded leopard comes from this, but it should be noted that Tigger's markings do not have this feature).

It is small in size, with a slightly round head, protruding mouth and nose, relatively large claws, and a long and thick tail that can reach 70-90 cm. Its limbs are thick and agile. Because of its sharp canine teeth and blood grooves on the tongue and lips, some people call it a small saber-toothed tiger.

Clouded leopard, image from Wikipedia

Like tigers, clouded leopards are good at climbing (or better at it). Their large and sharp claws are very useful for them to jump up and down, and their long and thick tails serve as their balancers. They can also walk upside down on tree branches (in comparison, tigers can't do that), just like Tigger!

Clouded leopard climbing a tree head down, picture from Tencent Video

When talking about Tigger's fighting power, people always think that he doesn't have much fighting power and should be more funny. But the clouded leopard has full fighting power. It is golden in color with cloud-like markings, very good at camouflage, with sharp canine teeth and amazing bite force, making it a good hunter in nature.

Image from Wikipedia

Whether it is the Bengal tiger, the Siberian tiger, the South China tiger or the clouded leopard, they are all beautiful and dangerous creatures at the top of the food chain, and are also people's favorite characters in film and television dramas.

What do you remember about tigers in movies and TV series? Share with us!

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Editor/Xiao Xitushuo