Is there a "king" character on the tiger's head? Why is it a cat and not a tiger?

Expert of this article: Zhu Guangsi, science writer, member of Beijing Science Writers Association

As the third of the twelve zodiac signs, the tiger not only occupies an important ecological niche in reality, but is also a cultural symbol.

Today is the first day of the Year of the Tiger. Let’s talk about some interesting things about tigers.

Why isn’t the tiger the first sign of the Chinese zodiac?

Song Dynasty scholar Hong mentioned in "Yanggu Manlu": "Zi is the negative pole, which is dark and gloomy, so it is matched with rats; rats hide their tracks." The first hour is Zi, the darkest time, and rats are the most common nocturnal animals, so rats are used to represent the first time point. There is also a saying among the people that "rat bites open the sky."

After the creation of heaven, the creation of earth came. "The earth was created in the year of Chou, and the ox is the creature that created the earth, so Chou belongs to the ox." The ancients could not do without oxen to plow the land, and earthquakes were also believed to be the movement of the "earth ox." "People are born in the year of Yin, and if there is life, there is death. The one who kills is the tiger."

Therefore, according to traditional Chinese culture, the first hour is heaven, the second hour is earth, and the third hour is man. Heaven, earth, and man are called the three talents, and the animals they represent are rat, ox, and tiger. Therefore, the tiger is ranked after the symbol of heaven and earth, symbolizing the power of life and death of human beings, and ranks third in the zodiac.

Why did the cat fall out of the Chinese zodiac?

The Chinese zodiac originated in the Xia Dynasty, when domestic cats had not yet entered China. The ancestors of the domestic cats we keep today are desert cats from India, which came to China during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. In previous written records, the cats mentioned were all wild animals, not the same species as domestic cats.

The twelve zodiac animals are composed of the representative "six domestic animals and six beasts". The six domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and dogs, which are common domesticated animals, while the six beasts are rats, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, and monkeys. Wild cats are not often seen by humans. The "Yi Zhou Shu·Volume 4·Shifu Jie" of the Western Zhou Dynasty mentioned: "King Wu hunted and captured 22 tigers, 2 cats, and 3,508 deer." It can be seen that wild cats in ancient China were not as common as tigers.

Since there are twelve months in a year and twelve hours in a day, in addition to China, many countries use twelve animals to indicate time, and there is also the concept of the twelve zodiac signs, some of which include cats.

For example, the twelve animals in Vietnam are rat, ox, tiger, cat, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. The twelve animals in Egypt are ox, goat, monkey, donkey, crab, snake, dog, cat, crocodile, flamingo, lion, and eagle. The twelve animals in ancient Babylon are ox, goat, lion, donkey, dung beetle, snake, dog, cat, crocodile, flamingo, ape, and eagle. Each country will choose the most familiar animal as the zodiac.

Why is the tiger a cat? Can't it be called tiger family?

The tiger is the smallest of the twelve zodiac animals. The twelve animals in Chinese characters correspond to the following biological categories:

Rat: Most of the order Rodentia (except Beavers and Porcupines).

Cattle: Most animals of the tribe Bovinae, subfamily Bovinae, order Artiodactyla.

Tiger: An animal of the Panthera genus, Felidae.

Rabbit: Lagomorpha.

Dragon: A fictional animal. In reality, many members of the order Sauria and Archosauria have the word "dragon" in their names.

Snake: an animal of the order Serpentes.

Horse: an animal of the family Equine.

Sheep: Most animals of the family Bovidae in the order Artiodactyla.

Monkey: Primate.

Chicken: Most animals of the order Galliformes.

Dog: Part of the Canidae family.

Pig: An animal of the family Suidae in the order Artiodactyla.

The reason why tigers cannot form an independent family is that they are not differentiated enough from other cats. The common characteristics of cats are: well-developed canine teeth, large and round heads, short snouts, symmetrical limbs, retractable claws, and most of them are good at climbing and jumping.

The Chinese words for cats include: cat, tiger, lion, leopard, etc. This is because these animals were known to the Chinese earlier and there are corresponding words in Chinese. However, there are fewer species of canines in China, including dogs, jackals, wolves, foxes, etc. When new species are discovered, they can only be translated as xx wolf, xx dog, etc., but in fact they may be very distantly related to wolves and dogs. Modern taxonomy originated in the West, and Western scholars did not have much contact with tigers, so they used the most familiar cat to name the entire family.

Why can't there be two tigers in one mountain?

Like most cats, tigers are solitary animals. The male will leave after mating, and the female will raise the cubs alone, usually two per litter. When the cubs grow up, they will also go to open up their own territory. Each tiger has its own territory, and the sense of territory is very strong, so there is a saying that "there can't be two tigers in one mountain."

Siberian tigers live in cold regions where prey is scarcest, and they need the largest range of activities: female tigers need 400 square kilometers, and male tigers need 1,000 square kilometers. Indian Bengal tigers live in dense tropical forests, and female tigers only have a range of 10 square kilometers, while male tigers only have a range of 30 square kilometers.

Although males usually live separately from females, they may still often be with their spouses and children. Zoologists have also photographed cases where males raised their children alone after the female died. Even among adult tigers, brothers and sisters sometimes cooperate with each other to maintain peace in a certain area. Therefore, the saying "there can't be two tigers in one mountain" is not absolute in nature.

Is it true that tigers cannot climb trees?

Tigers are huge, so it is really difficult for them to climb trees with the power of their claws. However, not being able to climb trees does not mean that they cannot climb trees, because tigers have the strongest jumping ability among cats, with the highest jumping height reaching 4 to 5 meters and the longest reaching 8 meters. Therefore, it is not safe to encounter tigers climbing trees. As long as they use their claws to help a little, they can reach prey at high places.

Is there a word "king" on the tiger's head?

The patterns on each tiger's body are different, and there may not necessarily be a "king" character on the forehead; these are often generated randomly.

Some may be the character "丰", some may be similar to the character "小", some may be similar to the character "天", and some may be similar to the character "大". Some may be irregular in shape, and some may have almost no pattern. So the character "王" on the tiger's head is a misunderstanding. Do you understand now?

I wish you all a happy Year of the Tiger!

The pictures in this article with the "Science Popularization China" watermark are all from the copyright gallery. The pictures are not authorized for reprinting.