Mammals · plate 6 of 60
Tiger
Panthera tigris
Solitary, enormous, striped all the way down to the skin.
Only 1.4% of people are Tigers. (estimated)
If you're a Tiger
You keep to yourself and you keep a lot of territory. You are the largest of the cats and the least interested in company, patrolling the same ground for years and meeting others mostly by scent. You are not shy, you are selective. Unlike most cats you like water, and unlike most people you don't need anyone to hear about your day.
A tiger's stripes are in the skin as well as the fur; a shaved tiger would still be striped.
The Tiger as a spirit animal
You are powerful and private, and you don't see why those would be in tension. You handle things alone, you handle them completely, and you expect nothing from others, which they find either restful or terrifying. The flaw is that you mistake solitude for a personality rather than a habit, and the few who get close find a lot of unmapped territory. Nobody finds you. You are found when you decide.
Grounded in how the species actually lives; nothing borrowed from anyone's tradition. Why we put it that way.
How to get along with a Tiger
Do
- Approach slowly and announce yourself; tigers dislike surprises and are fast about it.
- Respect the territory, including the schedule and the chair.
- Offer water. Tigers are cats who love a pool, and a swim fixes most moods.
Don't
- Don't stare them down; it is a challenge in every cat language.
- Don't try to join the pack; there isn't one.
When it goes wrong: A pressured tiger goes flat and silent, then decides; the moment to leave is the silence, and leaving is the right call.
The Tiger in a relationship
You are intensely devoted for a short time, then you need the forest back. Tigers meet for a few days of courtship and the female raises the cubs alone for about two years. You love fully and privately. Partners get all of you, briefly, and a scent mark on the tree to remember you by.
Field notes
Every animal is placed on six personality traits derived from how the species lives. Your answers are placed on the same six, and the closest animal wins. How the scoring works
- Sociability
- 1
- Boldness
- 9
- Energy
- 5
- Curiosity
- 5
- Devotion
- 6
- Roaming
- 6
- Tigers are the largest living cats and, unusually for cats, swim readily, crossing rivers and lying in pools to cool off.
- No two tigers have the same stripe pattern, and researchers identify individuals from camera-trap photos by the stripes on their flanks.
- Tigers greet each other with a soft snort through the nose called a chuff; it is the one sound they make that means no harm intended.
Tigers in literature
- Shere Khan — The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling (1894)
- The Tyger — Songs of Experience (The Tyger), William Blake (1794)
- The tiger — The Lady, or the Tiger?, Frank R. Stockton (1882)
Characters from public-domain works. Company, not a verdict.
Closest personalities
The animals whose profiles sit nearest to the Tiger's. If you got Tiger, one of these was probably your runner-up.
Other mammals
WolfRed FoxBrown BearPolar BearLionLeopardCheetahElephantGiraffeHippopotamusGorillaOrangutanSlothKoalaKangarooPlatypusOtterBeaverBadgerRaccoonHedgehogBatCamelDolphinSperm Whale
Among the 60
Gustav Mützel (1839–1893), Brehms Tierleben, Alfred Brehm (1890). Public domain, viacommons.wikimedia.org.All credits
