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There’s something about the big cat in India that seems to stand tall above all others and that’s the Bengal Tiger, one of my all time favorite animals.  When seen in the wild as apposed to some zoo somewhere they really come into their own.  Firstly as they are MUCH bigger than you expect and when you encounter one albeit from the back of a Landrover there is one thing that is very certain – YOU are on their menu!

Yes, I'm looking at YOU!

As a for instance, in Africa you may well come across the expression “the big five” and invariably that will mean you will hopefully see the cats amongst them – that is the Leopard and the Lion.  When you do see a Leopard it invariably will be at night from a little distance and you will note that it is not that large – powerful yes, but not a big cat.  The lion you will see on the plains quite often or in groups after a kill resting up and whilst an individual lion may well be quite a large and imposing creature, if you are on the Landrover then there are no worries.  For it sees the vehicle and those in it or on top of it as a single unit, which is neither prey nor a threat, so it tends to ignore you. It will look past you for something more interesting.

Not so the Tiger – it can very clearly separate you from the vehicle or the elephant you may be on top of and it simply wants YOU! You can tell this by the way it looks straight at you and then you suddenly realize just how big and how powerful the Bengal Tiger really is – wonderful!

This illustration done in a strong style with sketch layer underneath, then applied brush work  with high contrasting color for depth – fun to do and it brings back great memories too. . .