Great Cats
by John Seidensticker
When
I dream of tigers, I envision shadowy darkness. I sit in a
machan, a tree platform, alone, perched over a kill, waiting
for the tiger to return. Listening to the alarm calls of deer,
I can track the tiger from more than a mile away. All is still,
completely still. Until I feel, and then hear, footfalls crunching
leaves. The sound is steady, deliberate, and direct to the
kill. I hardly breathe, knowing the slightest movement will
elicit a deep, terrifying growl before the tiger retreats
into the night and vanishes soundlessly, like a ghost. So
I listen, frozen in place, to the tiger crunching and gnawing,
until the tiger drifts off. Still bound to the machan-unable
to tell whether the tiger has truly gone or is merely asleep
near the kill-I too drift off into sleep.
I dream
that I wake to the sounds of a rice mill, cattle mooing, and
people calling out greetings as they begin their day-the gentle
sounds of village life just across the river. In tigerland,
multitudes of people are everywhere you turn, going about
their lives, trying to earn a living, all within earshot of
those last remaining patches of landscape where this great
cat remains.
I am
lucky to have seen and studied tigers in their natural habitats.
And this is my image of a tiger. It is a prowler of the night,
a skilled stalker and killer of large prey, and the largest
of living cats. But the tiger is also a ghost, or nearly so,
across most of the Asian lands that were once its domain.
Its future depends on the good will of people-villagers who
share space with tigers and people around the world who know
and care about the tiger's plight. With the new Great Cats
exhibit at the National Zoo, we hope that more people will
know and care about tigers, and be moved to want to save them.
Why Great Cats?
The results of a 1995 survey of visitors to the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Natural History took me by surprise. I
had assumed that everyone knows lots about tigers; this survey
proved me wrong.
To prepare
for its own new tiger exhibit, museum staff wanted to know
what visitors knew about tigers and about conservation in
general. What they learned is that most visitors could define
animal conservation, and most related endangered species to
habitat loss. Asked to name three endangered species, visitors
said tigers and pandas most frequently, but these were mentioned
by only one-quarter of the visitors. Only a few people thought
of Asia when asked to name areas where conservation issues
were most pressing; Africa, South American rainforests, and
the United States were most often mentioned. At the same time,
few of these visitors knew that tigers live in Asia; many
associated tigers with Africa. Most visitors knew that tigers
were hunters, but many believed they hunted and lived in groups,
suggesting they were confusing the behavior of lions with
that of tigers. Finally, one sad finding was that nearly one-third
of those surveyed believed that animal conservation issues
did not in any way affect their lives. Assuming that Zoo visitors
are similar to Museum visitors, it was clear we needed to
do a much better job educating people about tigers, and all
great cats.
Our tigers,
indeed all of the animals in our Zoo, are ambassadors to their
relatives living in the wild. If we want our visitors to be
partners in the process of securing the tiger's future-and
the tiger will not survive without this partnership-then we
need to put the message of our Zoo tiger ambassadors in the
context of today's changing world. We want visitors to leave
the Zoo knowing a tiger's reality, not what is imagined to
be reality. We try to get our audience to really look at the
natural world, to gain a new perspective on it. The fundamental
theme of Great Cats is not about saving the world but about
how to immerse ourselves into the natural world more fully.
What's It All About
In designing Great Cats, we sought first to develop a distinctive
look for Lion/Tiger Hill, already one of the most popular
areas of the Zoo. Then we worked to make it accessible, not
only to meet the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities
Act, but accessible to small children. We wanted kids to be
able to see into the lion and tiger habitats without a parent
holding them up. Most important, we wanted to make the exhibit
fun for kids.
The machans
we are building above the walkway will provide improved viewing
of the Zoo's tigers and lions, giving people of all sizes
a close up look at tigers and lions. But we also wanted people
to see these big carnivores the way scientists do when they
study them in the wild. Climbing into a machan and watching
a solitary tiger or a pair of lions patrol their Zoo territory
will offer a real sense of the excitement and adventure of
watching these wonderful creatures in the wild.
Another
activity area for kids-called Tiger Tracks-will be an entirely
new Zoo experience dedicated to kids, with places to play,
learn, and relax with their family and friends. Children and
families will literally follow in a tiger's tracks to explore
the world of tigers and compare it to their own. Visitors
can touch life-size bronze models of a tiger's skull, tongue,
and paws; jump on a scale to compare their weights with those
of various species of cats and tiger prey; and play games
that reveal the risks facing tiger cubs as they grow up.
To help
visitors place the Zoo's cats in the context of wild cats,
we have designed a set of stunning graphics that will illustrate
what we know about tigers and lions, as well as how we have
learned about these dangerous animals. So, people will meet
both the animals and the people who study them. The differences
and the similarities between these largest of big cats will
be highlighted, helping people leave with a clear picture
of both. Another major theme is how our tigers and lions live
in the Zoo and how keepers care for them.
Lastly, we've planned two alcoves. One will house a theater
and feature short films about lions and tigers; this alcove
will be completed when funding is available. In the Predator
Alcove, the highlight will be a full-size bronze skull of
Tyrannosaurus rex (see "
The
Tyrant Lizard King"
)
,
the largest land-living
carnivore to have ever walked the Earth. With
T. rex
,
we introduce the concept that big, fierce creatures are always
rare. This sets the stage for an exploration into the reasons
today's largest terrestrial carnivores are rare and endangered-and
often in conflict with the people who live near them. It's
amazing to discover that all of the tigers living in Asia
today could stretch out comfortably on Lion/Tiger Hill, yet
they need millions of square miles of wild habitat to survive.
Great Cats will open in stages, beginning with the installation
of graphics this March, the Tiger Tracks area in May, and
the remainder gradually through the summer.
Great Cats is made possible in part by a grant from the
Save
the Tiger Fund
(a partnership between the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation and Exxon Corporation) and generous
donations from members of Friends
of the National Zoo (FONZ) and members of the National
Zoo's Directors Circle. FONZ volunteers will be donating their
time and labor to help in parts of the construction.
John Seidensticker is Curator of Mammals at the National
Zoo and Chairman of the Save the Tiger Fund.
(ZooGoer
27(2) 1998.
Copyright 1998 Friends
of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.)
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