Few would argue against the tiger’s status as an iconic animal. The national animal of India and Bangladesh, the tiger features prominently in paintings ( for example, by Kuniyoshi Utagawa), in literature (Rudyard Kipling or William Blake), and in film (everything from Kung Fu Panda to the upcoming Life of Pi).
But the tiger is also endangered, having lost much of its habitat to human encroachment in the past 100 years. Because of its fierce appearance and reputation, it has long been prized as a big game trophy, and various tiger parts are thought to have medicinal properties, although there is no scientific evidence for the latter.
Tiger Nation, a new participatory website, wants to harness our fascination with the great striped beasts to help save them. If you subscribe to the site, you’ll be treated to photos, articles, and videos about tigers, and you’ll be able track the lives of real tigers in India. There’s also a Tiger Match game in development, which will allow humans to help identify individual tigers that the automatic algorithm (called StripeSense) is unable to check (tigers have unique striping patterns).
To join and have your money go toward saving the endangered tiger, simply register and donate here. Tiger Nation is a joint project of four Indian conservation agencies.
Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash