Cars lined the roads leading to the university, many with fuzzy yellow-and-black Tiger tails hanging from their trunks.

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The American diplomat Joel Barlow, who in 1795 was posted as U.S. consul to Algiers, wrote to his wife that he had grown a thick black mustache, which gave him "the air of a tiger, " and had proved useful in his work in the region.

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Tiger and leopard sightings are for the lucky, and only one black panther has been spotted.

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It got a boost in 2003 when Uma Thurman appeared in the movie Kill Bill decked out in Tiger wear -- a yellow sweatsuit and a pair of gold-colored Onitsuka Taichi sneakers with black stripes.

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