7/18/13 How Do You Feel About The Tigers In Your Neighborhood? A New Study Maps Attitudes | Popular Science

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How Do You Feel About The Tigers In Your Neighborhood? A NewStudy Maps Attitudes

By Francie Diep Posted 07.17.2013 at 2:30 pm

Though everyone in surveyed Nepal towns lives equally close to tigers, a survey shows different groups feel very differently about the endangeredanimals nearby.

Bengal Tiger Muhammad Mahdi Karim, used with a GNU Free Documentation License

In Nepal, what you think about the local tigers depends a lot on what part of town you live in, according to a new survey.

The Chitwan National Park in Nepal is an important forest for tigers. It's one of the only areas in the world that is able to support more than 25 breeding females. There may be asfew as 3,200 tigers living in the wild around the world today; in 1970, the tiger population was more than 10 times that.

How people living near tigers feel about the animals is a good predictor of whether they'll follow laws aimed at conserving tigers, so a group of American and Nepalese researcherswanted to check in on the attitudes of people living just north of the Chitwan National Park.

So in Chitwan, you're more likely to dislike tigers or wish there were no tigers in the forest if:

You had fewer than eight years of formal educationYou were a lower­caste Hindu or Terai Tibeto­Burmese, both of which are ethnic groups with lower social status in ChitwanYou were a woman. In most Chitwan households, men and women adhere to strict gender roles, according to the researchers.You were a farmer or a day laborerYou had fewer livestock, a major marker of household wealth in ChitwanYou lived on the west side of town, which is less urban, but equally close to the forest as the east side of town. However, the west side of town suffers more frequently from tigerattacks, for reasons scientists haven't yet figured out.

Chitwan residents who had more positive attitudes about tigers were the opposite of the above. They tended to be higher­caste Hindu and Hill Tibeto­Burmese. They also tended tobe business owners, such as shop owners, and salaried employees.

7/18/13 How Do You Feel About The Tigers In Your Neighborhood? A New Study Maps Attitudes | Popular Science

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Eastern Chitwan, Nepal: Sue Nichols, Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability

Most of the findings weren't especially surprising. Instead, they confirmed what studies of other regions have found. Because tiger attitudes broke down by part of town, however, thestudy also gives conservation groups a limited geographic area where they can work on the problems, such as tiger attacks and a lack of fencing, that make locals dislike tigers.

The surveying team is publishing their work in the journal AMBIO. They've posted a copy of their full paper here.

[Michigan State University]

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D49 07/18/13 at 7:35 amWhy do people fear living near wild animals that can brutally attack andkill them on whim? Why do people fear animals that are, fast, powerfuland stealthy and that they can't defend themselves against? Is thisserious? No one is arguing that tigers are beautiful creatures or that theirnumbers are in danger but... why are humans living near them? There isno safety for the tigers as long as humans have to live in fear of them. Whydon't you use common sense here and look at studies of humans who livein fear of something. It doesn't matter if it is an alcoholic father or a tiger.Eventually, when you are put in a corner "Me or Them" it is almost always"me" that wins. How about do a research study on local fishermen whohave to swim in Shark infested waters too. Stupidist god damn story todate. Ya I said "Stupidist" I hope it pisses off some literary snob who readsit too since I just had to waste part of my life reading this ridiculous piece

7/18/13 How Do You Feel About The Tigers In Your Neighborhood? A New Study Maps Attitudes | Popular Science

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of crap. Move the people or the tigers. The people are merely a foodsource in this scenario and the tigers are simply monsters. HOLY CRAPDUMB RESEARCH OF THE YEAR!!!

"Do not try and bend the spoon. That is impossible. Only try and realizethe truth ­ there is no spoon."

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grece1 07/18/13 at 7:58 amupto I looked at the check ov $6423, I did not believe ...that...my friendsbrother realy bringing in money in their spare time on there computar..there dads buddy started doing this 4 only about fifteen months and bynow cleared the mortgage on their villa and bought themselves a Toyota. Iwent here,.... Yad7.com

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