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Sumatran Tigers:
You can take the animal out of the wild, but can you take the wild out
of the animal?
By: Maria Fernanda Lancheros 1st
How much influence does environment have on living
organisms?Environment -en-vahy-ruh n-muh nt- Every
external influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things surrounding us
Would our behavior remain the same if we had been brought up in a different family, different country, different friends?
Many studies on adoptees and their families have shown that they have more similar personality traits with their biological parents than with the parents who raised them
However their environment does affect their faith, political beliefs, and values; more specifically they are ore likely to have a good life: since child abuse and parent divorce is rare in adoptive families they are likely to be happier and be less stressed.
• “Environment triggers gene activity”• Traits controlled genetically stimulate
important responses in other people ,so our surroundings do impact our behavior
Would tigers still display same behavior and hold the same traits as tigers in the wild??
ORWould their captive environment change
them?Lets Find Out!!
IN THE WILD
• Solitary• Family Structure:
Mother and Cubs• Strong Hind legs to
Jump on Prey• Great swimmers• Start to hunt when they
are 6 months old• When they are about
two years old they are independent
Acute Senses: Eye of the Tiger
• Long Whiskers- Sensors• Great Sense of Smell• Vision- very sharp
In Captivity
• Family Structure: still Mothers and Cubs, males DO NOT take care of offspring just because they live with them
• Do not need to hunt because food is given to them
Well Developed Senses in Captivity
•Long Whiskers with sensors
•Sharp Vision
Underdeveloped Senses :Loose what you don’t use
• Olfactory sense- not needed as much since they do not need to hunt
Behavior In Captivity
• Solitary for the most part• Males are still territorial• Groom themselves for a long time• Usually swim to cool themselves off, their webbed toes make them one of the two
species of tigers “ best equipped” for this
Captivity In
Behavior
Behavior In Captivity
• Still very nocturnal• Great Jumping ability even without
practice• Females still “call the shots”: they get to
decide when they want to mate
Frequency of behaviors displayed over one hour period
Alert
Eating Grass
Grooming
Scratching
Walking
Laying on Stomach
Sitting
Asleep
Playing w ith Each Other
Follow ing
Moving Aw ay
Staring at Humans
Taking Care of each other
9
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
4
2
2
2
2
3
Measured at 5 minute intervals
As the previous graph shows, they spent much of their time grooming themselves, which is still true of Sumatran tigers in the wild but unlike the tigers in the wild they also just lay on the ground; being confined in their artificial forest there is nowhere for them to explore or a need for them to hunt prey is the reason for this. If they were in the wild they would be much more active.
See it to Believe it
Most of the time the tiger was grooming but don’t just take my word for it click on the second square on the adjacent computer and watch how engaged and devoted the tiger was to licking
his fur
•They are solitary but because of the environment they interact with each other much more than they would in the wild
• Click on the third square down and observe how they interact
Not Nature versus Nurture but “Nurture via Nature”
Environment does not completely alter the Sumatran tigers’ behaviors or traits, it is a combination of both genetics and environment which shapes the tigers into the way they are.
Bibliography
Black, Dr. Michael, Post Doctoral Student/Researcher. Personal Interview. 24 Oct. 2007.
Myers, David. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 2003.
“Sumatran Tiger.” Honolulu Zoo. 2008. January 10,2008.
<< http://www.honoluluzoo.org/tiger.htm>> “Sumatran Tiger.” The Sumatran Tiger Trust. 2007. December
14,2007.
<< http://www.tigertrust.info/thesumatrantiger.htm >>