Resonance journal of science education

Chief Editor

N Sathyamurthy, Bengaluru

Associate Editors

Kaushal Verma, Bengaluru

Satish Patil, Bengaluru

Shobhana Narasimhan, Bengaluru

B Sury, Bengaluru

Tarun Deep Saini, Bengaluru

Varsha Singh, Bengaluru

T N C Vidya, Bengaluru

Editorial Board

Amit Roy, Kolkata

Anand K Bachhawat, Mohali

J K Bera, Kanpur

Bodhisatta Nandy, Berhampur

Govind Krishnaswami, Chennai

Guruswamy Kumaraswamy, Pune

K lndulekha, Kottayam

Kapil Paranjape, Mohali

Lilavati Krishnan, Indore

Madhavan Mukund, Chennai

Manjari Jain, Mohali

Mihir Arjunwadkar, Pune

Nandini Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Raghunand R Tirumalai, Hyderabad

Ramanujam Srinivasan, Bhubaneswar

D J Saikia, Pune

T R Seshadri, Delhi

Shailesh A Shirali, Pune

Sindhu Radhakrishna, Bengaluru

Sudeshna Mazumdar-Leighton, Delhi

Sujata Deshpande, Mumbai

Suman Beri, Chandigarh

R B Sunoj, Mumbai

A R Usha Devi, Bengaluru

Editor of Publications Amitabh Joshi, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific

Research, Bengaluru

Associate Editor of Publications Ram Sagar, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

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Circulation and Accounts BS Asha, A Jayakumar, B N Naregal, Meghana B Yadav,

A Shashidhar, TM Tejeswini.

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Night Life

Bengal Tiger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

- William Blake (1794)

Revered in literature, science and religion, the tiger Panthera tigris is perhaps the most easily recognizable mammal

in the world. Largest among the large cats, the tiger's conservation status is threatened throughout its geographic range

due to habitat destruction and poaching. Six subspecies of the tiger are recognised to exist- Amur tiger P. t. altaica,

Northern Indochinese tiger P. t. corbetti, Malayan tiger P. t. jacksoni, Sumatran tiger P. t. sumatrae, Bengal tiger P.

t. tigris and South China tiger P. t. amoyensis. The Bengal tiger, India's national animal, is the most numerous among

the various tiger forms. Found in a range of habitats from dry and wet deciduous forests, through grassland and temperate

forests to mangrove forests, the Bengal tiger is an apex predator that plays an important role in maintaining the

population levels of other large mammals in the forest. Tigers are typically nocturnal hunters, depending on stealth

and ambush tactics to subdue prey such as deer, wild pig and antelope. They may opportunistically attack prey during

the day, however an examination of their visual capacity clearly shows that they are evolved for nocturnal hunting.

The retinas of tigers are predominantly composed of rods, photoreceptors that are responsible for vision in low light

conditions. Additionally, the tapetum lucidum layer at the back of the retina reflects light back into the eyes, providing

a brighter image on the retina. These morphological adaptations along with the rounded pupil and large lens provide

the species with excellent night vision. Behaviourally too, tigers may soon become fully nocturnal; a recent study in

Nepal documents that tigers have reduced daytime activities and turned more nocturnal in human-dominated areas in

order to avoid human disturbance.

Photo Credit: Kalyan Varma

Text Credit: Sindhu Radhakrishna, NIAS, Bengaluru

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007 /s12045-019-0856-7