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letra de field study on panthera tigris: it's difficult being a tiger cub - adam goo

welcome to east asian savanna, where we witness a glorious spectacle of mother nature; over by that bush, there, we see a tigress and her cub stalk their next prey—an unsuspecting gazelle. the tigress’ moves are meticulous, making sure that she and her cub remain unseen in the tall, yellow gr-ss. the pair advance in, but the young, inexperienced cub moves in too close—a costly mistake. the gazelle’s sensitive ears pick up the sound of the incoming predators, and quickly darts away in the opposite direction. the tigress berates her cub. “you are a disgrace. you will never become a successful predator,” scolds the tigress. “you bring dishonor.” the cub whimpers away, ashamed at his failure to catch the gazelle. such is the complex relationship that the tigress has with her offspring, whose every step is closely monitored and scrutinized by the tigress. here, we will examine the machiavellian nature of the panthera tigris, whose goal in life is to make sure her cub develops into the alpha male of her pack

the tigress—a fierce and protective creature—conditions her cub to become a cold and calculating predator like herself; she teaches her cub to be ruthless and independent, making sure that her cub knows not the comfort of coasting by in the middle of the pack. she teaches her cub to never reveal anything about himself to his fellow cubs, especially anything that pertains to his lifelong goal of becoming the next pack leader. “never display your true feelings,” she’d advise her progeny. “once the other cubs know how you truly feel, they will use it to their advantage.” the tigress makes sure that her cub shows no emotion, for emotion is a weakness in her eyes. while other cubs play, the tigress refuses her cub’s request to join his companions. “you must study,” the tigress would say to her cub. “you will never become a leader of this pack if you don’t concentrate on your future.”

the idea that the pack life is a compet-tive sport is constantly perpetuated by the tigress. although she does want what is best for her children, this merciless matron sees the other cubs as obstacles to the success of her own offspring. after all, it hasn’t been easy for her to get to where she is; born from a weak pack, this ambitious tigress had to work hard and become a superb huntress so that she could find a superior mate. natural selection, indeed. and even now, though she has done her duty of procreation, the tigress works diligently to train her young cub to be the best he can be. yet, the cub does not appreciate his mother’s sacrifice. the cub is young! he wants to enjoy his youth, explore the wilderness on his own and connect with other cubs. for now, he only sees her presence as a burden. the tigress would instruct her son, “you are better than the other cubs; you do not need them, for they are your rivals.” survival of the fittest. the level of compet-tion that the tigress forces onto her cub is frightening, and, with time, the young tiger cub’s ability to connect with his peers becomes strained by the cold, sharp tongue of the tiger mom

for it is one thing for the tigress to disapprove of the cub’s playmates; yet, the tigress goes even further by accusing them of being backstabbers. a cub’s life can be rough, and it is without question that the first people the cub goes to for a much-needed stress relieving play session are his companions. when stressed out, the cub will want to find comfort in the company of his peers who share his experience (perhaps rant about that gazelle that escaped him), yet the tigress cannot imagine why her cub would ever partake in such emotional and naïve candor. in the tiger mom’s mind, her offspring’s fellow cubs will pounce and attack at the first sight of weakness, and so naturally her claws come out. “make them think you are at 100% even if you are only at 50%. keep your relationships professional, not personal.” it is paradoxical, really, that much of the successes a tiger cub, as a member of a pack, will attain in his career are governed by the symbiotic connections he makes, and yet he is encouraged to suspect the very members that make up the pack itself. natural selection or not, it is unfair that the tiger cub’s character is taught to fear the wilderness that he should depend on

we’ve all seen how it plays out for the cub and the tigress. the cub will come to miss the days when his education first and foremost meant a chance to pursue what he wants and not at some reality-show-esque contest in which cubs are conditioned to compete with one another. he will develop a bitterness towards his mother and become rebellious. the cub will reflect upon his infant days when his mother would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. like the curious little cat he was, this cub would list all of his p-ssions with the enthusiasm of a young romantic, and his mother would humor him. and although his ambitions and expectations may have been naïve, they were at least hopeful, and the tigress would accept that he was a cub full of promising hopes and dreams. you see, this particular cub had seen his father, the previous leader of his pack, die at the hands of human hunters; to this day, the idea of leading a superficially successful but stressful and dangerous life as a pack leader scares the young cub, and he grew up wrongly -ssuming that his mother understood the reasons why he never really was as ambitious as she was. but nowadays, as the compet-tion within the pack grows, the tigress is not satisfied with the inquisitiveness of the cat and is more interested in the single-minded ferocity of the tiger. granted, the tigress only wants to secure the best life for her cub so that he will be able to provide for his family in the same way she provided for hers. the wonderfully inquisitive and hopeful idealist the cub once was slowly fades into obscurity, unable to realize the ambitions of his youth. and so, despite the tigress’ efforts to raise a strong and independent beast, this cub will never truly be independent. this tiger cub has a long way to go if he wants to learn to trust the wilderness once again and grow out of his pack

- adam goo

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