Arthur Osland, aged 12,ofR Rochester, N. Y. for his question:
Are there tigers in Africa?
The lion, it seems, has staked out Africa as his territory. No wild tiger ever sets a paddy paw on the Dark Continent. A few lions hover around wastelands in India, But in the main, Asia is the tiger’s territory. He stalks the jungles of India and the Malay Peninsula. There he holds the scattered farmlands and villages in terror. He strides as far as the C7aspian Sea. And he dons a thick fur coat to parade the snows of Siberia in temperatures of 70 below zero,
A zoo tiger may remind you of a large and gaudy tabby cat. But don’t be fooled by those sleepy eyes, those relaxed muscles. He would tear you to bits if he could. Ten pounds of raw meat a. day keep him sleek and cal _his appetite. Strong steel bare keep him from being destructive
For the tiger is, killer, a killer by choice and for fun, A young tiger in his prime has boundless strength and power. He will kill and kill and kill long after he has need for food, This kind of killing is rare in the well ordered animal kingdom. .
A wild tiger also looks different from your gentle looking friend in the zoo. He,lis heavier and bulkier. He eats more than ten pounds of meat a day, Miles of prowling and life‑and‑death struggles develop his massive muscles. And his glowing eyes are not ashamed to tell the world that he is a killer.
In his old age, around twenty, his strength begins to fail him. He will turn to easier game. He raids the farms for sheep and other gentle farm animals. !Once in a while he turns man eater. When a man eater stalks the nearby woods, whole villages in India are deserted in terror.
For all this, the tiger is a magnificent animal. The Royal Bengal Tiger grows six feet long, plus a three foot tail. He may weigh nearly 600 pounds. He can leap 15 feet with ease. He can climb any tree. He does not hesitate to dive in the water and swim.
His cousin, the Siberian tiger with the Persian cat coat, is even bigger, However, he is rarely seen and reports say that he is gentler than his Indian relative.
Apart from their beauty, which is something to admire,‑the tiger does serve a purpose in Nature’s scheme of things. He slaughters countless deer and other salad eating creatures. These fellows tend to raid food crops. The tiger keeps down their population and so prevents them from becoming too much of a nuisance to farmers.