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Physicist Calculates Trajectory of Tiger At SF Zoo

Posted by kdawson on from the parabolic-stripes dept.

KentuckyFC writes "Is it really possible for a 350-pound tiger to leap a 12.5-foot barrier from 33 feet away? (Said another way: a 159-kg tiger, a 3.8 m barrier, and 10 m away.) A physicist at Northeastern University has done the math, a straightforward problem in ballistics, and the answer turns out to be yes (abstract on the physics arXiv). But I guess we already knew that following the death of Carlos Souza at the paws of Tatiana, a Siberian Tiger he had allegedly been taunting at San Francisco zoo at the end of last year."

2 of 713 comments (clear)

  1. A lot by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wanna bet the tiger would still be in its cage if these drunken idiots had decided NOT to shoot it with a slingshot? The only tragedy here was the tiger having to be killed.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  2. Very Interesting by daniel422 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Am I the only one who finds it fascinating that the ONLY ones the tiger directly attacked were the 3 guys who were taunting it? That it specifically hunted down the 3 individuals who pissed it off? And they had moved away from the area...
    Who says animals are stupid?