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Q. I want to supplement my child’s school lessons with some work on database research skills. I’d like to pick a topic he is curious about. I think tigers might be a good place to start. He is in the fourth grade. Does the library offer resources for this?
A . Yes. Our TexShare databases include K-12 resources. I’d suggest starting with Primary Search. Go to City's library webpage and click on "eLibrary," then scroll down to the link for TexShare databases. You’ll be asked for a password. The library pays the subscription for this service, so your use will be free.
To get the password, just give us a call at 512-393-8200 or email us at smpl@ sanmarcostx.gov. Then login and select, in this order: By Subject — K-12 — Primary Search. You will see that there are also research databases for junior high and high school students.
Of course, there are many other databases on a wide variety of topics to serve a general adult audience as well as databases that feature journals for academic and technical researchers.
The Primary Search database is simple for children to use. In this case, just type “Tiger” in the search box. A full-text “Scholastic Super Science” article on the list of results caught my eye.
“Tiger Talk” is four pages with color photographs, charts and maps of countries with tiger habitats in 2017 and in 1850.
The article focuses on the work of biologist Courtney Dunn. In 2011, Dunn was a volunteer at the National Tiger Sanctuary in Saddlebrooke, Missouri. The sanctuary rescues mistreated tigers. Dunn used a micro phone to record these tigers. When Dunn moved to
When Dunn moved to Dallas, she started an organization called the Prusten Project to study the sounds made by tigers. A prusten (or chuff) is a tiger purr.
A century ago, there were more than 100,000 tigers in Asia. Hunters killed many tigers to sell their fur. That’s illegal now, but some poachers still hunt tigers. Tiger habitat has been reduced as people cut down forests for farms and homes. Today, there are fewer than 4,000 wild tigers.
Tigers roam large territories covered with thick forests. Scientists usually track tigers with cameras in trees or bushes. They can tell tigers apart by the pattern of their stripes. Unfortunately, images from their cameras are often close-ups that don’t show distinguishing patterns. Dunn hopes to use tigers’
Dunn hopes to use tigers’ unique calls to track them. Tigers live alone when they’re not mating or raising cubs. Biologist Emily Ferlemann, Dunn’s colleague, says, “To keep in touch with other tigers, they call over vast distances. One sound tigers use is a booming roar called a long call. It’s incredibly loud — like 22 lawn mowers going at once. A tiger’s voice is as unique as your own fingerprint.”
Dunn and Ferlemann next want to use their technique to identify tigers in the wild. They plan to hide microphones in the forest to listen for wild tigers. They’ll use the recordings to learn what the calls of individual animals sound like.
Eventually, a network of microphones could listen for tiger calls throughout a wide area. Scientists could keep tabs on tiger populations based on which roars they hear where. Microphones would have several advantages over cameras. Cameras can see only what’s right in front of them, but a tiger’s roar can be heard from miles away.
In 2017, Dunn and Ferlemann planned to record tigers in India and Nepal. One thing they hope to learn is whether tiger calls differ from region to region, like human accents. “There’s more to a roar
“There’s more to a roar than you might think,” says Dunn. “These tigers are actually talking to each other.”
