The Tiger (Panthera tigris), the largest member of Felidae, the cat family, alive today. We all recognize this beautiful but powerful animal by its orange coat with black, grass-shaped stripes. It is among the most recognizable and popular of the world’s charismatic megafauna. Like most cats, tigers are solitary hunters, preying on large ungulates, particularly deer, wild pigs, and cattle, but they will also hunt smaller animals like nonhuman primates, peafowls, dogs, leopards, bears, and will readily feed on carrion. They have even been known to attack young elephants and rhinos. Despite being solitary, tigers are not antisocial. Males is occasionally seen resting or feeding with a female and cubs (particularly if they are his own), and they may travel in groups now and again. Tigers have varying habitats, from tropical jungles to coniferous woodlands, preferring environments with dense cover, access to water, and large prey. In the magical land of Equestria, they’re found in either the jungles south of the pony kingdom, forests and taigas to the north, and there have been reports of them lurking in the Everfree Forest. The tiger’s coat serves as a means of camouflage. Its black stripes mimic as shadows of the tall grass they stalk in. However, tigers would have a variation of fur colors, with some being “golden” with a pale golden fur with a blond tone and reddish-brown stripes, and the famous white tigers have snow white fur with brown stripes and blue eyes. All tigers have unique stripe patterns. They’re as distinct as human fingerprints. Tigers are also one of the very few cats that will swim and bathe in ponds, rivers, and lakes. For jungle-dwelling species, bodies of water provide a means of cooling them during the heat of the day. Tigers are known for their roars - two types of roars: the “true” roar, which can be heard at up to 1.9 mi (3 km) away, and the shorter, harsher “coughing” roar - they emit other vocalizations, including moans, a sound similar to a roar but more subdued and emitted when tense, grunts, woofs, snarls, growls, meows, hisses, and prusten or chuffing, soft, low-frequency snorting similar to a smaller cats purr. The chuff is used as a friendly greeting, very similar to a domestic cat’s chirrup. Even people and pony caretakers will mimic a chuff in reply.

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, there is one known tiger. Serving as a guard animal for the guardian creature of the Tenochtitlan Basin, Ahuizotl, alongside his other feline sentries. In our world, there are 11 recognized subspecies, with the Siberian tiger as the largest, the Sumatran tiger being the smallest, and the Bengal tiger the most well-known. Unfortunately, 3 have become extinct; the Caspian, the Bali, and the Javan tiger, and the remaining extant subspecies are listed as endangered, with a current estimated number between 3,062 and 3,948 mature individuals, with most of the populations living in small, isolated pockets. The culprits to the population decline are poaching, retaliatory killings, and habitat loss. When being poached, their beautiful coats are sold for fur fashion, while their body parts are sold for use in traditional Chinese medicine. They are even sold as exotic pets. Conservation organizations are working hard to save these magnificent beasts from extinction, like the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, and many more. Zoos and wildlife reserves preserve their numbers, and there are also rewilding and reintroducing projects in the works. You can help by spreading the word of the tigers’ plight, go on ecotours where tigers live, voice your concerns with policy makers, help prevent wildlife trade by not buying tiger parts or items prepared from tiger derivatives and dissuade poachers, and reduce use of natural resources like paper and timber. Let’s save these magnificent but threatened species of cats from going the way of the sabretooth. Tigers have always enchanted us, in past and present, so let’s see them live on in peace into the future.

The tiger is my most favorite cat species. They’re so beautiful and watching them on YouTube is a pleasure. And ever since it appeared on MLP:FIM, I’ve been wanting to make a vector of it. However, with the very few references provided it wasn’t so easy to make a full-body vector. So, after 4 years of hesitation, I finally took the risk and used a series of references. Most of the body’s design was from “Daring Don’t,” the daylight color scheme was from one of the Equestria Girls: Friendship Games bloopers, and as for the tail, I had to go through a series of minimal references since it was cut off screen most of the time, and had to guess in the end.

This was posted on Endangered Species Day last year. Today is International Tiger Day, and I thought this was the perfect time to post it here. Happy Tiger Day!

Traced from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 4 Episode 3, “Daring Don’t.”