Tigers at the Prom

It’s good to get out of town once in a while even if it is only an hour from home.  My cousin Tessa had a date to the prom and for some reason, believed that I was a master in hair design.  So, off we all headed, down to Alpine to do my wonderful cousin’s hair.  I thank her for her confidence in my skills and if I say so myself, the hair looked great.  It helped that she’s already a gorgeous girl. 

Since we were down there we decided to partake of the local entertainment and that was, since the kids are the majority, a trip to the Monte L. Bean museum.  This museum is on the BYU campus and, as I student, I often went there to draw the stuffed animals, or taxiderm-ied animals as some might call them.  Really, how in the world is one to get an animal to stay still unless he’s been shot and stuffed.  Sorry to any of you sensitive folk out there for mentioning such a thing.  There was a large collection of the family Bovidae in the order of the even-toed ungulates (antelope).  A few of the family Felidae (tigers), and about five of the family Ursidae (bear).  There was some kind of brown bear that was around 8 feet tall, huge!  I can see why Emmet would enjoy hunting one of… How can I escape Twilight?! 

Anyway, on with the tour.  One of the most interesting things we learned was that Ligers never stop growing.  They are a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress, the largest of all cats.  They of course were a product of laboratory experimentation as the two would try to kill each other if things were attempted in a natural way, eh-hem.  The other version is a Tigon, which is a male tiger and a lioness combo,with a side of fries…  We learned that these two creations never stop growing and eventually die from issues surrounding perpetual growth.  So sad.

Well class, I’m sure that was more than we wanted to know on that subject, but we all felt enlightened by the experience now didn’t we?

Next class period we will discuss the white rhinoceros, the world’s largest land mammal after the elephant.