My local tigers-photos

[paris]

here are some pics of my local ssp of tigers. according to the maps i am at an area where barred and blotched tigers meet. my first pics however will be of a beautiful female i found walking across my sisters street last fall. you can see why i wasnt able to miss her on the road! (although some other drivers didnt miss about 3....all too far gone to save)

what is so unusual about her is the uniformity of the pattern-while not exact, there is alot of balance-note the dark spots on each leg match left to right, plus the amount of yellow on the sides...

while this pic is of her right-the tail tip is hidden, the other pic i had was better-but the colour was shot and unadjustable....unlike the other side the tail tip is almost all yellow on the right

the belly even has symmetry to it-again this isnt much when compared to a fire sal, but for a tiger this is impressive

and finally a head shot-i have never seen a tiger-no matter how vivid on colour-that didnt have the grayish blending near the nose

 

[paris]

so here they all are in a bowl-showing the contrast

here is the norm of what i find here. these are 2 of my males.

though they dont have much contrast on the upside-its alot different on the ventral side

here is a different male

here is a pics of him in full-note him in relation to my hand size, these are no small sals!

 

[angelina]

Fantastic pictures Paris! What part of town did you find these at. I want to do a field trip soon and don't have a clue as to where to go. I was thinking Bear Creek Park...but you tell me.

 

[paris]

i have only ever found one in town-near the broadmor, since they are migratory i am afraid that anything in town limits would be very unlikely to be fruitful-since there are sooooo many roads and they would need a pond to breed at that hasnt been a depository for unwanted gold fish. bear creek is the wrong environment. they are found on the roads alot in peyton/black forest. they breed in vernal pools normally but the spread of cattle across the west has actually helped increase their numbers since cattle ponds are adequate breeding grounds. you have to know their routes-and i used to live near one-on that route id drive the road at about 20 mph and find10-20 a night(not all live), its got to be raining for them to be on the march and it must rain for at least 3 days before they will risk leaving the earth to attempt the breeding pond. i have seen over eager leopard frogs that got to the pond to early(before it melted) and were dissembowled by crows. for the past 3 years the pond i know of hasnt had water in it-so no breeding there. its easier to find them in the fall after the new ones morph out and find winter habitations-they are almost black when they morph so its really easy to miss them on the roads then. many people in the area complain about them falling in their window wells, some even end up living in them-going down into the foundation in winter.

 

[angelina]

I'm sure the drought we're experiencing isn't helping the caudate population. Thanks for the tips on finding locals.

 

[juraj]

Incredible animals Paris,
do they really exist ?

 

[paris]

aren't salamanders supposed to be mythical creatures anyways? yeah these are some of what i have in my area-but that female is the only one like that i have seen in these parts.