Tigers vs. Ticks: Which is Scarier?

Last month my cousin sent me an article about a couple that was visiting Thailand. They wound up stuck in a bamboo tree while a tiger paced beneath them for half an hour. The part that was most interesting to me was that we went to that very area when I visited her a year and a half ago! Here in Michigan, there are warning signs for ticks on tons of trailheads, but I'm here to tell you, there were ZERO signs warning of tigers there! True, I wouldn't have been able to read the signs if there were any, but how about a picture?!

They also had a King Cobra in their yard shortly after we left, which might be even scarier. Though still not as scary as the rats in Bangkok. But I'm not here to put you off Thailand- it was totally worth risking a tiger mauling, snake bite, and my sanity. All this to say, tigers are scary and so is this picture (another from the National Museum of Wildlife Art):

The night scene and full moon just add to the creepy factor!

Can you see the tiger very well? It's just stalking around being creepy! What I find most impressive about the whole painting (and all Rousseau's wild animal art, for that matter) is that he never left France in his whole life! The tiger and scenery are all whipped up in his imagination. His critics mocked his art, but the likes of Pablo Picasso recognized his genius, and now the whole world agrees.

I also have an active imagination, which is why you won't catch me in the jungles of Thailand in the dead of night anytime soon. I have enough to worry about with the ticks around here.