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The study was carried out on Panthera species (4 lions and 5 tigers) housed in Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bengaluru, and Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysuru. Estrus behavior such as rolling, licking, nudging, chuffing, frequent urination, whitish discharge, vocalisation, lordosis and copulatory behavior such as vocalisation, allowed to be mounted, aggression towards male, mounting, and biting of the nape of female were exhibited both in lions and tigers which helped to identify the time of fecal sample collection. The study's main aim was to carry out noninvasive and noncontact pregnancy detection in these wild felids. Feces samples collected from the female animals on day 0 (day of mating), 30, 45, 60, 90, 100, and 10th day postpartum were analysed for 13, 14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF2a metabolite (PGFM) levels using Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA). A significant increase in PGFM concentrations was seen from day 45 to day 60 in pregnant lionesses and tigresses used to detect pregnancy. The PGFM levels from day 60 were significantly different between pregnant and nonpregnant lionesses and tigresses. The PGFM levels were found to rise from day 45 and drop to basal levels by day 60 in 2 tigresses which may be due to fetal resorption. This study effectively detected pregnancy in lionesses and tigresses between day 45 and day 60 but requires further investigation due to the paucity in literature about PGFM analysis in tigers and lions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recovery of wild tigers in India and Nepal is a remarkable conservation achievement, but it sets the stage for increased human–wildlife conflict where parks are limited in size and where tigers reside outside reserves. We deployed an innovative technology, the TrailGuard AI camera-alert system, which runs on-the-edge artificial intelligence algorithms to detect tigers and poachers and transmit real-time images to designated authorities responsible for managing prominent tiger landscapes in India. We successfully captured and transmitted the first images of tigers using cameras with embedded AI and detected poachers. Notifications of tiger images were received in real time, approximately 30 seconds from camera trigger to appearing in a smart phone app. We review use cases of this AI-based real-time alert system for managers and local communities and suggest how the system could help monitor tigers and other endangered species, detect poaching, and provide early warnings for human–wildlife conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research demonstrates that doubling the number of tigers as Bangladesh pledged at the 2010 'Tiger Summit' is impossible without restoring the Sundarbans' intact habitat and ecological balance. The research identifies the barriers to tiger conservation in Bangladesh's Sundarbans. Last, a number of conservation strategies are put forward, including adopting a cross-border conservation plan and preserving the habitat in its natural state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long, rectangular-shaped vocal folds enable lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars to produce their trademark vocalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a successful flattening of the curve in terms of the spread of COVID-19, the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) became one of the first professional-level sport leagues to start its season in early. With limited programming available due to various sports cancellations and postponements, ESPN made the decision to broadcast the Korean baseball games. With this in mind, the perspective of a practitioner in Korean baseball could be valuable for numerous sport experts in other countries. Hence, an interview with Kwon Heo, a public relations (PR) manager with the Kia Tigers, was conducted. Heo entered the sport industry as a reporter for Gwangju daily newspapers from 1995 to 2001. Since 2002, he has been working as the head of PR for the Tigers. The Kia Tigers are the most successful professional baseball team in Korea, with 11 Korean series titles, and Kwon is responsible for the overall planning and promotion of the franchise. He also earned a doctorate in sports marketing from Mokpo National University in 2013, and since 2009 he has been teaching sports promotion, sports media, and sports marketing to students as a part-time lecturer at Mokpo National University in order to deliver his field experiences to students. He has also been in charge of conducting lectures regarding the training of sports industry personnel at universities near the region (e.g., Chosun University and Sunchon University). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the secretary-general of the United Nations has questioned whether the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a gap in global defenses against bioterrorism that a nefarious group may seek to exploit, the reality is that the pandemic has only underscored the folly of biological warfare, a strategy which relies on weapons – viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens – that would indiscriminately wreak havoc on the attacked and the attacker alike. Indeed, most countries in the world are part of the Biological Weapons Convention, the international treaty that – while lacking an enforcement mechanism – has successfully bolstered the near universal norms against the use of biological weapons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly articles on Tiger Woods have attended to his mixed-race body through blackness and the refusal of his Asian heritage and identity. His Asian-ness was not part of the early marketing of his iconicity. In this paper, I looks at how Tiger Woods responded to the news of his marital affairs through a deployment of Buddhism. In particular, I theorize Asian/Asian American masculinity that engages with religion, Asia, Asian-ness, and Asian America to complicate theories of race, gender, and sexuality. Through the invocation of Buddhism, Tiger Woods offers a different racial heteronormativity that is legible in the nation and larger marketplace. In the process, he aligns with Asian and Asian American respectability as a way to temper blackness; it is an Asian and Asian American identity grounded in the rise of Asian capital and reconfigurations of both Asian and Asian American masculinity. Therefore, through Asian-ness, Woods offers an assemblage of religion, race, gender, and sexuality that silences and erases blackness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal activity patterns of different age and sex classes of a Bengal tiger population were studied at Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh between May 2006 and July 2009 using systematic camera traps. Based on the exact time of photo-capture tigers, information on temporal activity patterns of following age and sex categories of individual tigers (resident male (n= 55 photographs), female with cubs or breeding female (n= 70 photographs), female without cubs or non-breeding female (n= 72 photographs) and transient male (n= 42 photographs)) were recorded. Breeding females utilized significantly different activity period compared to transient males (P< 0.001) and females without cubs (P<0.001). Overall activity period between breeding female and resident male did not differ significantly (P >0.6) during the study period. The observed temporal segregation may provide valuable information on cub survival strategies adopted by breeding tigresses, potentially enhancing their reproductive success in a tropical deciduous forest. The adoption of camera trap-based population monitoring studies is advocated for the reproductive behavior of elusive large carnivores such as tigers in the wild on a long-term basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Incompatible insect technique (IIT) is a population suppression approach based on the release of males with manipulated Wolbachia infection inducing egg inviability in wild females. We here present results of multiple field releases of incompatible ARwP males carried out in 2019 in a 2.7‐ha green area within urban Rome (Italy) to assess the effect on Aedes albopictus egg viability. Data are compared with results obtained in 2018, when the approach was tested for the first time in Europe. RESULTS: An average of 4674 ARwP males were released weekly for 7 weeks, resulting in a mean ARwP:wild male ratio of 1.1:1 (versus 0.7:1 in 2018). Egg‐viability dynamics in ovitraps significantly varied between treated and control sites, with an estimated overall reduction of 35% (versus 15% in 2018). The estimated proportion of females classified as mated with ARwP males was 41.8% and the viability rate of eggs laid by these females (9.5%) was on average significantly lower than that of females only mated with wild males (87.8%); however, high variability in fertility was observed. Values of ARwP male competitiveness were 0.36 and 0.73 based on the overall viability rate of eggs in ovitraps and on female fertility, respectively; thus, well above the conventional 0.2 threshold for an effective suppressive impact in the field. CONCLUSIONS: Results further support the potential of IIT as a tool to contribute to Ae. albopictus control in the urban context, stressing the need for larger field trials to evaluate the cost‐efficacy of the approach in temperate regions. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tiger crab, Aegla concepcionensis , is a threatened endemic freshwater decapod of Chile, distributed throughout small areas of the Mediterranean region of Central Chile (37°30′-38°00′S). Its habitat includes streams and lakes with riparian areas dominated by native plants, with little or null human intervention. To our knowledge, the tiger crab's distribution is limited and human stressors (e.g., water withdrawal, exotic tree plantations and climate change) have led to degradation of its habitat. Based on the presence of these stressors and the virtual lack of knowledge of its ecology, the tiger crab has been categorized as Endangered (EN). This study presents a preliminary description of the species' ecology based on its abundance and its morphometrics, as well as on its feeding habits in Caburgua lake, South Central Chile. We established 16 sampling points, half of which in the shallow bathymetric stratum (0-10 m depth) of the lake itself, and half in the Lumaco stream, one of the lake's tributaries. We used baited traps to capture specimens. A. concepcionensis appeared to be found in the lake's shallow bathymetric stratum, but not in the stream. Individuals showed negative allometric growth, males were larger than females, and they showed scavenger feeding behaviour. Our findings provide useful information to help with tiger crab conservation, although more extensive surveys will be required to collect sufficient data for establishing a robust conservation program for the species in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: While people are familiar with the practice of declawing domestic cats, it is also performed on non-domesticated species, such as lions and tigers, to extend the period of safe human interaction for entertainment purposes. Although declawing (removing not only the claw itself, but also the bone from which it grows, whether in part or in whole) clearly affects the skeletal system, the impact on the musculature has not been studied. As the mass of an animal increases cubically as a product of its volume, while the areas of its paws only increase as a square, larger cats have higher foot pressures and, therefore, the surgery may have a greater effect on larger cats. In this study, we evaluate the forearms of clawed and declawed cats to investigate the effects of declawing on muscle architecture. We found that the deep muscles that flex the digits, which are the muscles most directly affected by declawing, are significantly lighter (~73%) and less powerful (46–66%) in animals that have been declawed, while other muscles do not make up for these reductions. Thus, declawing has a substantial effect on the muscular capabilities of cats, and because these deficiencies are not compensated for in larger cats, it probably has even more functionally devastating consequences for these species. While people are familiar with the practice of declawing domestic cats, "onychectomy", as it is also known, is also performed on non-domesticated species, including pantherines, to prolong their use for entertainment purposes. Although the surgery (the partial or complete removal of the distal phalanx) has clear osteological implications, its myological effects have never been studied. As the mass of an animal increases cubically as a product of its volume, while the areas of its paws only increase as a square, larger felids have higher foot pressures and, therefore, the surgery may have particularly substantial functional effects on larger cats. In this study, we evaluate the forearms of clawed and declawed non-domestic felid specimens that spanned the body size range of the whole family to evaluate the effects of onychectomy on muscle fiber architecture. We found that the deep digital flexors (the muscles most directly affected by onychectomy) of declawed felids are significantly lighter (~73%) and less powerful (46–66%) than those of non-declawed felids, while other muscles do not make up for these reductions. Thus, onychectomy has a substantial effect on the myological capabilities of cats, and because these deficiencies are not compensated for in biomechanically disadvantaged larger felids, it probably has even more functionally devastating consequences for these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tiger fish (genus Datnioides) are critical ornamental and economic fish and are valuable freshwater fish worldwide, belonging to the order Lobotiformes. Currently, there are five extant species (Datnioides campbelli, D. microlepis, D. polota, D. pulcher, and D. undecimradiatus) of Datnioides in the world, usually inhabiting in south and southeast Asia. Due to the decline of wild population sizes of tiger fish and the lack of molecular research on them, in the present study, we sequenced, assembled, and characterized the complete nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) operon of all five extant tiger fish species, in order to elucidate the phylogenetic relationship among the genus Datnioides. The nrDNA sequences of five tiger fish species were 8548–9182 bp in length, encompassing complete 18S rDNA, ITS1, 5.8S rDNA, ITS2, 28S rDNA, and IGS regions. Numerous repetitive sequences were detected, substantially influencing the sequence length of different regions in each species. We employed maximum-likelihood (ML) method and Bayesian inference (BI) method to construct phylogenetic trees for Datnioides. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that each region in nrDNA operon is not sufficiently phylogenetically informative to delineate the species in Datnioides; nevertheless, the whole operon is able to delineate five tiger fish species much better, three of five species were successfully partitioned. Particularly, regardless of employed markers, it was strongly supported that D. campbelli was considerably partitioned from the other four species, possibly due to the geographical separation. In spite of the fact that discrimination of Datnioides species requires further investigation, our study provides reference genome resources for the Lobotiformes, as well as insights into the phylogenetic position of Lobotiformes and further biological conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk of large carnivore mortality from anthropogenic sources is increased in areas where frequent human-carnivore encounters are high. Translocation is a potential tool for reducing these conflicts and re-establishing wild populations. Determining proper translocation sites for tigers is important for securing their future. In this research, we quantitatively evaluated the habitat suitability of a potential tiger translocation area on the Kampar Peninsula, a large peatland landscape in Sumatra. This landscape is essential for the conservation of the local tiger population, but its role as a tiger habitat has rarely been investigated. We conducted this research in a region with mosaicked land-use types covering an area of 7,045.89 km2. We applied species ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) to model habitat suitability using species presence and ecogeographical variables as the bases. The model predicted that approximately 60% of the study area is tiger-suitable habitat with varying suitability levels. The tiger habitat characteristics in the study region are dissimilar to the global tiger habitat characteristics, and the high specialization value obtained indicates that tigers inhabit very narrow niches. Considering the low density of tigers in peatlands, we estimate that the carrying capacity of the whole Kampar landscape is approximately 13 tigers. Therefore, to conserve a viable tiger population, it is necessary to maintain connectivity between the Kampar peatlands and the Kerumutan landscape situated to the south of the Kampar Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolation of wildlife populations represents a key conservation challenge in the twenty-first century. This may necessitate consideration of translocations to ensure population viability. We investigated the potential population and genetic trajectory of a small, isolated tiger (Panthera tigris) population in Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest complex across a range of scenarios. Using an individual-based, spatially-explicit population modelling approach, we simulate population and genetic trajectories and evaluate the relative impact of translocations from a related population. Population and genetic trajectories in our study were most sensitive to sex and number of individuals translocated and translocation frequency. Translocation of females produced consistently higher population, allelic richness, and heterozygosity compared to equal numbers of males. Despite population increases, declines in allelic richness and heterozygosity across simulations were stark, with simulations predicting a mean decline of allelic richness and heterozygosity of 46.5% and 53.5% without intervention, respectively. Translocations of four females every generation or every other generation were required to prevent substantial heterozygosity declines. While translocations could increase population size, they may fail to prevent long-term loss of genetic diversity in small populations unless applied frequently. This reinforces the importance of incorporating realistic processes of genetic inheritance and gene flow in modelling small populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe a case of congenital glaucoma in atiger (Panthera tigris). Animal Studied: An 8‐month‐old intact female tiger wasreferred for suspected glaucoma of the right eye. The right eye was buphthalmicwith moderate episcleral injection, circumferential superficial cornealneovascularization, moderate corneal edema, and a fixed dilated pupil. Tapetalreflection was absent due to a mature cataract. Rebound tonometry under generalanesthesia revealed 70 mmHg and 21 mmHg in the right and left eye, respectively. Procedure: A trans‐conjunctival enucleation was performedand the globe was submitted for histopathology. Results: Histopathology revealed a thin sclera, amorphousmaterial contouring an imperforate and hypoplastic iridocorneal angle, ahypoplastic lens with severe anterior‐posterior compression, subcapsularepithelial hyperplasia, and Morganian globules, and segmental moderate retinalatrophy. Periodic acid‐Schiff stain highlighted segmental dilations of theDescemet's membrane. Masson trichrome stain highlighted a pre‐irido collagenmembrane. Conclusion: The tiger's age and histopathologic findingsare consistent with congenital goniodysgenesis. This is the first known reportof congenital glaucoma in a tiger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the recent epidemic status of brucellosis in cattle and sheep (referred to as brucellosis) in Baiyun Obo mining area, and provide references for the prevention and control of brucellosis in livestock, the tiger red plate agglutination test (RBPT) method was used to detect the serum of cattle and sheep in Baiyun Obo mining area from 2018 to 2022 to analyze the prevalence of brucellosis. The results showed that from 2018 to 2022, a total of 38 farmers and 5435 serum samples were tested, and 25 (sheep) positive serum were tested, with an average individual positive rate of 1.83%. Among them, there were three positive farmers, and the average positive rate of farmers was 5.36%. The positive rates of (sheep) individuals in each year were 0, 0, 1.12%, 0.71% and 0. The positive rates of farmers were 0, 0, 16.67%, 9.09% and 0. The positive rates of 2018 and 2019 were 0, which suddenly increased in 2020 and followed by a downward trend. According to the statistics of different livestock species, the average individual positive rate of cattle and sheep was 0 and 0.36%, respectively. The results found that the incidence of brucellosis in Baiyun Obo mining area from 2018 to 2022 was at a low level, and the average individual positive rate was only 1.83%, indicating that the prevention, control and purification of brucellosis in the whole region had a significant effect. The study also found that the incidence of brucellosis in female animals was higher than that of male animals, and the onset of brucellosis was mostly from July to August, which was different from the common time distribution of brucellosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between the Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae and people (e.g. injury or loss of lives of people and tigers, evacuation of injured tigers, loss of livestock and sightings of tigers) can negatively affect the conservation of the subspecies. Land-use change in Sumatra has reduced habitat for tigers, forcing them into human-dominated landscapes and increasing the probability of interactions with people. Although the number of such interactions is high in South-east Asia, few studies have been published since 2000 and for Sumatra there is a lack of information regarding where these events occur. We collated data on human–tiger interactions in the province of Riau using web scraping of news sources published during 2010–2020, and mapped these data to village boundaries. We recorded 101 interaction events, with a total of 107 interactions, which we categorized into seven types (people injured or killed, livestock killed, sightings of tigers, tigers killed, injured or evacuated), in 78 villages. Most interactions with reported locations occurred close to settlements (35%), followed by in plantations (26%) and smallholdings (25%), with forests and forest edges comprising 14% of such events. Interactions were dominated by sightings of tigers, but severe interaction types (human death or injury and attacks on livestock) were also reported. The mean annual number of human–tiger interactions was 4.6 during 2011–2017 and 21.3 during 2017–2020. We highlight the need for mitigation and prevention, such as establishing conflict mitigation teams, improving animal husbandry practices, and providing training and education on human–tiger interactions focused in plantations and settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cowpox virus is considered to be a re-emerging zoonotic pathogen and a public health threat due to increasing numbers of cases in humans and animals in Europe over the past decade, including within the United Kingdom (UK). We present epidemiological data and diagnostic features of 27 recent, naturally occurring cowpox cases in zoo and wild animals across the UK, including the first reports of cowpox in two snow leopards (Panthera uncia), a Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), three Chilean pudus (Pudu puda), a Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) and a Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), and the first reports of Orthopoxvirus infection in a lar gibbon (Hylobates lar), a Southern tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) and an aardvark (Orycteropus afer). This study provides a detailed overview of cowpox infections in a wide range of non-domestic animal species, presents a range of methods for diagnosis and demonstrates the value of retrospective analysis of pathology surveillance in revealing epidemiological links. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]