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Big Cat (big + cat)
Selected AbstractsBig cat scan: Magnetic resonance imaging of the tigerJOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING AND RADIATION ONCOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Thomas M Snow SUMMARY In August 2002, we performed MRI scans on a female juvenile Bengal tiger. We present the clinical course, imaging and autopsy findings, and some comparative anatomy of the tiger brain and skull. Magnetic resonance images of a tiger have not previously been published. [source] Medieval big cat remains from the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of LondonINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 5 2006H. O'Regan Abstract Big cats have been regarded as a symbol of power in different cultures throughout history. Here we present a study of the only known big cat remains from the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London. They were excavated in 1937 but have not previously been published. Our radiocarbon dating has established that they range in date from the 13th,17th centuries, making them the earliest post-Pleistocene big cat remains in Britain. We provide a description of the specimens,two lion skulls, a fragmentary leopard, plus 19 dog crania,and discuss the partially occluded foramen magnum of one of the lions. This anomaly has also been noted in captive and unprovenanced cat skulls from the early 20th century, indicating that it is a condition with a long history. We discuss the remains, the history of the menagerie, and the uses of the animals, in the light of our knowledge of conditions for captive animals at the time. Zooarchaeological studies such as these may also provide insights for modern conservation of zoo animals, and this aspect of the work is also considered. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Development and characterization of novel microsatellite markers in the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 4 2002A. Singh Abstract All cat species, except domestic cats, are either threatened or endangered. The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), a critically endangered species, is driven to a single habitat zone in Gir forests in India for its survival. The present status of this big cat compels us to acquire deeper knowledge of its genetic variability and phylogenetic relationships. Here we report the isolation of highly polymorphic microsatellite loci from a partial genomic library of the Asiatic lion. These loci were characterized and have shown high levels of variation ranging from six to 11 alleles per locus in the population studied. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 1.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 1 2009February 200 Front cover caption, volume 25 issue 1 A boy shows off on his horse at the annual festival of racing, games and music in Barsko'on, Kyrgyzstan in October 2007. The festival includes endurance races of up to 36 kilometres over steep, rocky mountain paths and streams, a far cry from the bowling-green surfaces of Churchill Downs and Newmarket. Abdildechan, an expert in horse games in Kyzyl Suu, explained that horse games and competitions such as these derive from the importance of horses to the nomadic and warrior traditions of the Kyrgyz people. Horses enable people to move away from danger, he explained, and are also essential for work and food. Cars are becoming increasingly common in Kyrgyzstan, but many people believe that they will never completely replace horses in this mountainous region. ,Young people may have cars', says shepherd Jakshylyck Orgochor, ,but where there is a Kyrgyz person there is always a horse: a horse is a man's wings'. In this issue, Rebecca Cassidy scrutinizes claims about the distinctiveness of the Kyrgyz horse and considers the political consequences of evaluating domesticated animals on the basis of contested categories including ,breed' and ,type'. Back Cover: HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONS Ros Coard, lecturer in archaeology and specialist in archaeozoology and forensic taphonomy in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Wales Lampeter, examines forensic evidence taken from the scene of a suspected big cat kill in West Wales, UK. The skulls in the foreground belong to an array of known big cat species, and Coard compared tooth pit data from these skulls with those found in sheep and horses killed in unusual circumstances. These data have been used to provide evidence for the existence of at least one large predatory felid in West Wales. However, even without this scientific corroboration, many people around the UK report sightings of non-endemic ,alien' big cats (ABCs) on a regular basis, attributing to them an almost mythical status, and this makes them an interesting phenomenon to be considered from an anthropological perspective. Coard has been working collaboratively with Samantha Hurn, an anthropologist who has been documenting narratives relating to big cat sightings in West Wales. In this issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Hurn outlines the data collected so far. She argues that ABCs do, indeed, exist in West Wales, and discusses how and why her informants from the local Welsh farming community regard these predators in positive terms. Many see ABCs as both important keystone species performing the valuable function of keeping other problematic predators (notably foxes) in check, and highly politicized animals who symbolize their own marginalized position within contemporary UK society. As Lévi-Strauss put it long ago, animal-human relations are, indeed, good to think with. [source] Brain size of the lion (Panthera leo) and the tiger (P. tigris): implications for intrageneric phylogeny, intraspecific differences and the effects of captivityBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009NOBUYUKI YAMAGUCHI Intraspecific encephalization of the lion and the tiger is investigated for the first time using a very large sample. Using cranial volume as a measure of brain size, the tiger has a larger brain relative to greatest length of skull than the lion, the leopard and the jaguar. The Asian lion has a relatively much smaller brain compared with those of sub-Saharan lions, between which there are few differences. The Balinese and Javan tigers had relatively larger brains compared with those of Malayan and Sumatran tigers, even although these four putative subspecies occupy adjacent ranges in south-eastern Asia. Differences in brain size do not appear to correlate with any known differences in behaviour and ecology and, therefore, may reflect only chance differences in intrageneric and intraspecific phylogeny. However, captive-bred big cats generally have a reduced brain size compared with that of wild animals, so that an animal's life history and living conditions may affect brain size and, hence, functional or environmental explanations should be considered when linking brain size differences to intraspecific phylogenies. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 98, 85,93. [source] | ||||||||||