Mike the Tiger is the official live and costumed

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

. LSU's men's and women's sports teams are called the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

Original enclosure

LSU has had a live tiger

on campus since Mike I arrived on campus on October 21, 1936.David G. Baker and W. Sheldon Bivin, ''Mike the Tiger: The Roar of LSU,'' LSU Press (2003) The original enclosure was only 2,000 square feet in size and offered minimal amenities for the tigers. It had a building and a covered, caged enclosure with logs where Mike could climb and roam.

I Like Mike campaign

In fall 2001, a grassroots "I Like Mike" campaign was begun to build Mike the Tiger a new and larger home. The first phase of the campaign consisted of placing Tiger trucks accepting donations around LSU's campus during home football games. In addition, collection boxes were placed at all concession stands in Tiger Stadium and at the

Pete Maravich Assembly Center The Pete Maravich Assembly Center is a 13,215-seat multi-purpose arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The arena opened in 1972. It is home to the Louisiana State University Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball teams, the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics ...

during basketball season. A collection box was also placed at Mike the Tiger's original enclosure. The next phase involved people donating $100 and having a brick

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

. These bricks were then used in the construction of the

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. '' The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

around Mike's new habitat. Student organizations as well as the Tiger Athletic Foundation's (TAF) Collegiate Club joined forces to actively raise funds for the campaign. The $10.00 membership for the TAF Collegiate Club went directly to the "I Like Mike" campaign. A

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

headed by the wife of former LSU Chancellor, DeLaine Emmert and Bill Hulsey was formed to seek additional sponsors for the project. World-renowned

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

artist

George Rodrigue George Rodrigue (March 13, 1944 – December 14, 2013) was an American artist who in the late 1960s began painting Louisiana landscapes, followed soon after by outdoor family gatherings and southwest Louisiana 19th-century and early 20th-cent ...

created a painting which could be purchased for $500 with donations going to the project.

Mike the Tiger habitat

In 2005, a new $3 million habitat was created for Mike by Torre Design Consortium, LTD. The

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

(situated between Tiger Stadium and the

) features state-of-the-art technologies and includes among its amenities lush plantings, a waterfall, a flowing stream that empties into a wading pond, and rocky plateaus. The habitat has, as a backdrop, an Italianate tower – a campanile – that creates a visual link to the Italianate architectural vernacular of LSU's campus. The new habitat ranks among the largest and finest tiger preserves in the United States and expanded Mike's home to 15,000 square feet (1,400 m²). It also features research,

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

, and

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...

programs, as well as educational, interpretive, and recreational activities. Mike attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year to the habitat and can be viewed via the live Tigercam at MiketheTiger.com.

Gallery

Image:Mike the Tiger Habitat (Baton Rouge).jpg, Mike the Tiger Habitat Image:Mike the Tiger Habitat (Baton Rouge, Louisiana).jpg, Mike the Tiger Habitat - Front view Image:Mike the Tiger Habitat (Baton Rouge, LA).jpg, Mike the Tiger Habitat - Side view

References

External links