Von Muggenthaler hopes to learn more about tigers, protect them from extinction, and understand the unheard, paralyzing power in their roar. The next step for von Muggenthaler is to take the recorded infrasounds to scientists who can determine whether or not tigers can hear the infrasounds. Sometimes they would roar and leap towards the speakers and sometimes sneak away. When the researchers played back a tape of recorded tiger sounds including audible and infrasounds, the tigers appeared to react to these sounds. "Although untested, we suspect that this is caused by the low frequencies and loudness of the sound." "When a tiger roars-the sound will rattle and paralyze you," says von Muggenthaler. Bioacousticians found that tigers can create sounds at about 18 hertz and when tigers roar they can create frequencies significantly below this. In the first study of its kind, von Muggenthaler and her colleagues recorded every growl, hiss, chuff, and roar of twenty-four tigers at the Carnivore Preservation Trust in Pittsboro, North Carolina, and the Riverbanks Zoological Park in Columbia, South Carolina. Scientists believe that infrasound is the missing link in studying tiger communication. The lower the frequency, the farther the distance the sound can travel. The current Smokey is Smokey X, after Smokey IX was retired at the conclusion. "Humans can hear frequencies from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz, but whales, elephants, rhinos, and tigers can produce sounds below 20 hertz." This low-pitched sound, called "infrasound," can travel long distances permeating buildings, cutting through dense forests, and even passing through mountains. This kept going until the stadium was roaring and UT had found its mascot, Smokey. March 3 is World Wildlife Day."Humans can only hear some of the sounds that tigers use to communicate," says von Muggenthaler. Tigers for Tigers also is active in Russia, home to 450 Amur tigers. The efforts are all part of the global interest in protecting species. “Researchers play an increasingly important role in tiger conservation,” she said. She worked as a field naturalist in Kanha National Park in India for a year and then came to Clemson University in 2013 to begin research on infectious disease threats to tigers and other wild carnivores in India. “As I learned more about biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation and other conservation issues in south Asia, I realized there was a great need for scientific research and decided to leave my dental career,” Chaudhary said. The dental school is close to one of the most special tiger habitats in the world - the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest that extends between India and Bangladesh. During her visits to hold oral health camps, she heard stories about man-tiger conflicts. Her interest in tigers started several years ago when she was getting a degree in dental surgery in Kolkata, India. An example is the work that Vratika Chaudhary, a master’s student at Clemson University, is doing in India, home to 70 percent of the world’s wild tiger population. Tigers for Tigers supports graduate research on tigers. It currently survives only in scattered populations from India to Vietnam and south to Indonesia, and in China and the Russian Far East. The tiger once ranged across Asia to the Russian Far East. Tigers also are threatened by loss of habitat. Tiger bones have been crushed and put in wine. Some cultures falsely think tiger parts cure rheumatism, convulsions, typhoid fever and dysentery. (© AP Images)įrom its whiskers to its glorious striped coat, nearly every part of the tiger is sold on the black market for a lot of money. Auburn mascot Aubie greets fans before a college football game against Mississippi State in 2015. Last summer, for example, the coalition reached some 27 million people via #WhereRtheTigers on Twitter during International Tiger Day. “College students can bring a passion, energy and new, fresh approach to tiger conservation,” Carnell said. The Tigers for Tigers Coalition is part of the National Wildlife Refuge Association and uses social media, advocacy programs and projects abroad to help protect tigers. Clemson started its own Tigers for Tigers effort in 1997. He became active in the effort when he was a student at Clemson University, which has a Bengal tiger as its mascot. The Tigers for Tigers coalition harnesses the passion of 56 colleges with tiger mascots, their 450,000 college students and 6.5 million fans to save wild tigers, said Sean Carnell, the national “spirit campaign manager” for the coalition.
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