Varma is a gifted storyteller, a bureaucrat with a poet\u2019s sensibilities. For him, describing a tiger is like composing lines of verse that come from a place of intimate, firsthand knowledge. \u201cA forest comes alive when the tiger is there,\u201d he says. \u201cThe trees are more beautiful. The breeze blows more gently.\u201d
\nAnd this is where poetry and science intersect. Wright is not a poet, but he explains the tiger\u2019s impact on flora and fauna in much the same way as his friend.
\n\u201cAs an apex species, tigers protect the forest in a way,\u201d Wright says. \u201cWhen they are no longer there, we have an imbalance in the ecosystem. And that affects everyone \u2014 \u00a0you, me and the world. The presence of a tiger means the forest is healthy.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a classic illustration of the food chain, or more accurately, the symbiosis of nature. Clean air and water means healthy grasses. Healthy grasses mean large numbers of deer and other foraging herbivores. And when prey species like sambar, swamp or spotted deer are in abundance \u2014 as they are in Kanha \u2014 apex predators aren\u2019t far behind. And there is no apex predator like a tiger.
\nHealthy tiger equals healthy ecosystem. Healthy ecosystem equals healthy world.
\nHimmat Singh Negi spent 14 years at Kanha, the last four of which he served as its director. He said that simple equation has enormous implications for life, not just in India, but halfway around the world, in a southern state in America where tigers have never lived but where people celebrate the species nonetheless.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the top predator, which explains the survival of human beings, and that is what we really need to understand,\u201d says Negi, one of the members of the Clemson expedition. \u201cIf you protect the tiger, you protect yourself.\u201d
\nHence the urgency of the U.S. Tiger University Consortium\u2019s mission and Wright\u2019s leadership in finding partners around the world. The Global Tiger Forum, with which Clemson signed a memorandum of agreement to help launch the consortium, is perhaps the most significant of those alliances.
\n\u201cThe fact that we are partnering with the Global Tiger Forum is extremely important,\u201d Wright says. \u201cIt is the organization that coordinates all efforts among the 13 tiger range countries. We share resources and ideas while collaborating on research that is having an enormous impact on tiger health worldwide.\u201d
\nAmong those who are central to that process is Mohnish Kapoor, who leads programs and partnerships for the Global Tiger Forum. He is a relentless advocate for tiger conservation and travels the world, building relationships among stakeholders. Kapoor estimates he\u2019s seen hundreds of wild tigers, but \u201cstill I get goosebumps.\u201d
\n\u201cThe feeling is there, every time,\u201d he continues. \u201cI just hope future generations can witness them too. It is one of the best gifts of God to this planet. I really hope we can be successful in our work to save this majestic animal.\u201d
\nThat same hope brought the Clemson team to India and brought Kapoor and Varma \u2014 at Wright\u2019s invitation \u2014 to see other kinds of tigers, specifically, those who play football. Kapoor grins widely when recalling his first college football game: Clemson versus Auburn. Tiger versus tiger.
\n\u201cThere are no wild tigers [in Clemson],\u201d Kapoor says. \u201cBut the amount of excitement that I saw when I was there was amazing.\u201d
\nAmazing, yes. But also sobering. Because, again, how many of the 85,000 people in Death Valley that day know what\u2019s at stake? It\u2019s the mission of the U.S. Tiger University Consortium to help them know.
\n\u201cHundreds of times a day, on our campus and across South Carolina, Clemson fans say, \u2018Go Tigers,\u2019\u201d Wright says. \u201cBut what will we say when they are gone?\u201d
\n+Learn more about the U.S. Tiger University Consortium and Clemson’s role.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>
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While subject to some debate in the scientific community, it is generally accepted that there are nine subspecies of tiger: Amur, Bali, Bengal, Caspian, Indochinese, Javan, Malayan, South China and Sumatran. That is to say, there were.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1088,3015,3238],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-21141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-exclusive","tag-endangered-species","tag-tigers","tag-web-exclusive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/DSC_1260-3rd-tiger-very-good-e1562870961105.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21141"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}