| Rainbow Tiger Sketch |
| Posted by Reedstilt, i_dontneedmentalhelp@yahoo.com, on
Tue, Nov 26 2002, 1:10pm
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Here is my rather unorthodox interpretation of the cryptic rainbow tiger. Rather than constructing this animal as a feline, I felt a primate was a better canidate based on the facts; in particular, I based my version of the rainbow tiger's physical form off tamarins and marmosets. Instead of a cat that behaves like a monkey, I chose a monkey that behaves like a cat.
The Rainbow Tiger is said to have forepaws adapted for grasping, a primate feature. Its movement is said to be very monkey-like as it jumps between branches and tree trunks. Also New World Primates tend to be more colorful than most other mammals in the region, reasonably allowing for the showy coat pattern attributed to the Rainbow Tiger: white coat with black spots, and yellow, red, white and black stripes on the chest (hence the name), which are hard to make out in a simple black-and-white sketch such as this.
The Rainbow Tiger, should it exist in the way I have constructed it, may fill the gap between Cebid (Capuchin-like) monkeys and the smaller Callitrichid monkeys (marmosets and tamarins). Marmosets and tamarins actually evolved from the larger species of New World monkeys, and shrank in size to exploit a diet of insects and gum, and unlike most other primates, Marmosets and Tamarins have claws instead of nails.
Since it considered a dangerous animal and compared to a large cat, one can assume that the rainbow tiger at least partially predatory. A large predator could have evolved from small omnivores such as tamarins or "proto-tamarins." The reason I suggest a close relationship between the Rainbow Tiger and tamarins is, as mentioned, that tamarins have claws rather than nails--a feature a predator (if the rainbow tiger is one as claims say) would find useful. During the time before the arrival of other placental predators, predatory monkeys might have filled the arboreal predator niche, until (mostly) ousted by new arrivals, such as cats. However, the fossil record for South American monkeys is quite poor, and all theories on my part are just educated, albeit rather wild, speculation. |
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