SumatranTiger-NatuurmuseumNijmegen-PeterMaas2005

Description:

Description: English: This taxidermied Sumatran tiger (‘’Panthera tigris sumatrae’’) is located in the collection of Natuurmuseum Nijmegen, a museum of natural history in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In the 1920s a tiger was shot in a kampong on Sumatra, Indonesia, because it caused trouble. Afterwards, an orphaned tiger cub was kept as a pet by the family Gervais. When this tiger became bigger and more mature it wounded someone while playing. In order to prevent future accidents the tiger was shot in the head and killed. A child of the family (Ernst Gervais) was blind and was send to the Netherlands, to the well known blindeninstituut (Institute for blind people), what later became the Henricus Instituut in Grave, the Netherlands. Around 1930 it was decided to send the tiger skin to the blindeninstituut in Grave and mounted, so that blind people there could experience how big a tiger is. In 1981 the collection of the Henricus Instituut was given to the Natuurmuseum Nijmegen. This specimen is part of a permanent collection in the museum. Date: 4 March 2005. Source: Own work. Author: Peter Maas.