Was reading that viking thread in Higher Learning and I've always had an interest in
Animal Style Kung Fu, KoolGTrap I know you got that CMA knowledge on lock, so you think you can drop some knowledge on these Animal Styles ? In particular that tiger style ?
I was 
when I saw the this posted in the thread :
National Geographic - Fight Science, Kung Fu Tiger Style - YouTube
So I'm tryna find out about it and just Animal Style Kung Fu in general.
Animal Styles are one of the logical points of origin for ALL martial arts. They're a reference for movements. Many early martial artists would observe the movements of animals in the wild, in combat, and make them the foundation or a portion of their styles. Animals in CMA especially are a big thing. There are a lot of famous substyles like Mantis kung fu or Tanglangquan that will reference all of their style's moves off a single animal:
Others, will not try to imitate the movements but the SPIRIT and character of the animals they are imitating. You'll see the body parts being referenced as similar to an animal, like a stance will demand "chicken legs" where they are bent a little. The style im focusing on now, Xingyiquan, has a 12 animal system that emphasizes a different style of attack for each animal, different body mechanics and mental state. In this case, its not like you're pretending to be a tiger or a dragon, but deriving your movements and power expression from the "ideal" of that animal.
Everyone learns the 12 animals, but people will be suited to the character of a few of those animals and use them in combat. For example i am partial to bear, ostrich, tiger. That might change though
As for pure animal style kung fu, some of it is good like Tanglangquan but a lot of those styles lack some of the development of the non-animal foundation styles(especially in regard to internal training). A lot of Animal styles like "tiger kung fu" will be family styles or something, proprietary. Some of them are very good and celebrated, like Mantis kung fu or Fujian White Crane.
