h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The eight big cats - A4006063
Author: DrNaturalist - U1537615

I hope it isn't too long. I just have a lot of information. I could have put more in there but I didn't want to drive anyone crazy enjoy.

This is a great start and an impressive first entry! The big cats are fascinating but I didn't know there were eight major types.

You should probably have a quick look at the <./>writing-guidelines</.> just to make this a little more in the 'house style' - for instance we don't tend to use the first person (as you've done in the opening and closing paragraphs) as h2g2 is collaborative and it's not always clear who 'I' is to the casual reader.

Also, you should probably pop a little explanation of 'Shere Khan' in too - just something like 'Shere Khan - the fearsome character from Rudjard Kipling's The Jungle Book'.

Welcome to h2g2 by the way. Great to have you aboard!

Did you get my edited copy? Is there anything else I should change? How do I know about the status of my guide entry as to when it will be put up in the edited guide?

Patience, my friend

What happens first is people will post any recommended changes you need to make before it is ready to go to the Edited Guide. As suggested above, you need to have a read of the Writing-Guidelines and make some adjustments so it fits in with the 'house style'.

Once you've made any adjustments, a Scout will come along in time and 'Recommend' it, and it will then get edited and be added to the Edited Guide.

The first part of the process, though is for you to have a look at those guidelines and make a few changes so that it fits.


It's a fantastic start, you've done a lot of really good work here!

This is really interesting. I can't think of many changes I would make to the content but a couple of phrases like

"Cheetahs
...
They are the fastest land mammals on earth but as we will find out, their adaptations for running come at a high price."

I would drop the "as we will find out" because you get to your key points very quickly. There are some other rhetorical phrases which, because your writing style is so much to the point, are also unneeded.

This has all of the signs of a great entry. Do you know how to put headings and dot points into the text?

Hi DrNaturalist!

Welcome to H2G2. I'm a big fan of big cats too .

This is a good basis for an entry - as others have said, it would be good if you could modify the style a little to fit in with the Writing Guidelines, but essentially it's an interesting piece. Removing references to 'I' and personal opinions such as 'The National Zoo in Washington D.C. should seriously consider obtaining one in addition to their clouded leopard for the Asia trail exhibit.' will help here.

Structurally, I think you've included the most pertinent information (apart from missing out that most lions are in Africa ). As there is so much information available about big cats (the more well-known ones, at least), it's probably best to concentrate on how they live (solitary or pack hunters), where they can be found, differences between them physically and behaviourally, and any particularly interesting facts.

This line is a bit confusing: '...all white tigers were descended from Mohan found in Bandhavgarh NP.' - I presume NP is National Park, but you could explain what/who Mohan is, and where Bandhavgarh is. Also, it would help if you could explain why white Bengal tigers are white (http://www.bigcatrescue.org/white_tigers.htm seems to be a good site, with some very interesting information on the bad side of inbreeding for the white gene).

A good start for your first entry though - well done!

Lbclaire

I agree: this is a great entry, and a splendid start for a newbie. It just goes to show that some can be bothered to read the Writing-Guidelines

Just as an aside: did you know that the maximum size of the peacock's tail is regulated by how many tigers there are about? (Male) peacocks like to have the biggest tail going for display purposes, and the bigger the tail the more likely that it'll get a mate. BUT the bigger the tail, the more likely it'll not be able to take off properly if a tiger tries to catch it. So...fewer tigers means bigger peacock tails. I know which I'd rather have about

I made the changes, you required but I am allergic to computers so I can't make my entry look pretty or anything. Are those headlines and graphics that I see on other entries really necessary?

No - we prefer content over style. If the content is good enough and the entry gets picked, a Sub-Editor will add all the headers and suchlike for you.

If you're allergic to computers though (by which I assume you mean that you don't much care to use them, or the internet), one wonders why you've embarked on a project - submitting an entry to Peer Review - which involves a lot of time and effort online. Having an entry go through Peer Review is very internet-intensive because it inolves corresponding with the people who comment on entries and help their authors to get them ready for being edited. It's not simply a matter of dropping the entry into PR and having it go straight into the Edited Guide.

I can deal with that stuff, I spend a lot of time on the internet, I just stink at doing anything special, but nothing this site requires me to do stretches my patience or my computer skills

Hi DrNaturalist,

Well done for making the changes. Just a few comments:

'all white tigers were descended from Mohan' - according to that website I pointed you to, this only refers to white tigers in captivity. The genetic 'defect' which makes white tigers does happen in the wild too, though much more rarely as wild tigers aren't as inbred as those in captivity. Also, not all white tigers have severe birth defects (otherwise people would give up trying to breed them) - it might be better to say 'White tigers are not albinos, they are the result of a genetic mutation which has been capitalised upon by many years of select inbreeding - father to daughter, brother to sister, mother to son. This extreme and unnatural inbreeding often creates severe birth defects in the animals it produces.'

Also, I think that website said that some white tigers were part Siberian as well, not just Bengal.

In terms of 'making your entry look pretty' , we try to encourage people to separate their text into paragraphs, add headers (and subheaders if necessary), remove first-person references etc. and if possible to use GuideML in their entries. This not only helps an entry to get noticed, commented on and picked (it's sometimes hard to read a great long list of text), but also makes the sub-editor's job a lot easier.

Lbclaire

Author has gone elvis, I think if this went into the Flea Market, it would only need a bit of editing for a eg entry.

tjm

Yes, last post was probably on this thread. Seconded. Shame, potentially good entry.

is there a list going round ?

Adding to a list tonight, Jon

The thing I like most about H2G2 is when my questions are answered straight away !

Yes, but it must have been a lovely surprise!