Expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing as the technology for body morphing (particularly genetic) continues to develop:

He charges $1,000 a day for his appearances, but the offers are sporadic. Avner said his agent is pitching a show for him on the Fox television network, but the details are still murky.

"If I could make a living at it, it would be nice," he said.

He said his need to transform himself into a form of human cat stems from his Indian background as a member of the Huron and Lakota tribes. He grew up in Michigan and was given the Indian name of Stalking Cat. Following an ancient Huron tradition, Avner said he is changing himself into his totem of a tiger.

Not surprisingly, he has a web site.

Wow. This is beyond extreme tatooing.

I often wonder if these people ever give a second's thought to what they will look like 30-40 years down the road.

Demand the government pay for physical/mental rehabilitation I suppose.

How totally cool. While it's not something I would do, I can appreciate his desire and admire his courage (some of that looks painful). I've wanted to have eyes like a cat's for decades.
And claws. I'd love to have claws. If science and its applications can help Avner become a cat, perhaps I can get a set of retractable nails? :-)

I’m quite sure he won’t feel complete until he coughs up his first furball. Transspecies rights groups soon to follow...

New meaning to beware the wolf in sheeps clothing. The reality is science has done little for him other than providing safe prosthesis. Tattooing and body piercing is centuries old technology. Michael Jackson had him beat on cat-like contacts by 20 years. Dentures certainly have been around for awhile, if not in fang form. I guess his selected use of these technologies makes him a bit of an artist.

At the end of the day, I can't imagine a psychologically sound person making the choices he has. Genetical transformation, I might think differently. Cat claws may be useful for self-defense and for climbing. Athletes would enjoy the efficiency of a cats muscle combined with the low weight of their bones. This guy has none of that. His plug in whiskers do not serve any of the functions that are utilized by real cats. Besides the mutlilation of a tiger's corpse, the ears he hopes for will not improve his hearing at all.

His plug in whiskers do not serve any of the functions that are utilized by real cats.

Well, I don't think that's technically true. If he tries to squeeze thru a narrow passageway headfirt, the whiskers will alert him to the narrowness. Unless they're as wide as his shoulders, which they're not--I've seen this weirdo on TV before--they won't warn him he's trying to squeeze into a place his body won't fit, however.

/*Shakes head*/...whatever trips his trigger I guess. I do have to agree with a previous comment; what he will think down the road, but hey that's not for me to judge.

I'm wondering just how many tigers the Huron met, in their old stomping grounds.

Did the Huron and Lakota use peyote?

There is nothing remotely cat-like about this guy, it's all masque. I've seen him on TV and he lacks any sort of feline grace, movement or comportment. It's just another freak show.

I doubt we're going to see genetic research to turn humans into cat people. Maybe some sort of morphing would come around as a spinoff of advanced nanotech medicine. Nanotech can do anything, right? (sarcasm off)

However, I think it's inevitable we'll see research to genetically engineer animals to be intelligent. Why? Because that's going to be the best way to really understand the genes that cause human intelligence -- by seeing what they do, and how they interact, in a lab animal setting.

And once that's possible, I think the demand for intelligent animals (as pets, companions, workers, and so on) will be significant. Maybe even tiger people. (ObSF: Swann's Moreau Trilogy)

One of the reasons I like cats is that they are NOT like people. I have not met a person yet who is worthy of being a cat.

And once that's possible, I think the demand for intelligent animals (as pets, companions, workers, and so on) will be significant.

Also for hunting. Quite a few people would love the added challenge of hunting an intelligent animal.

ilya - they'd better be careful. The intelligent animals might hunt back. ;-p

That's not catlike. This is catlike.

The intelligent animals might hunt back.

That's the idea. My brother-in-law hunts grizzlies in Canada when he can, and is very much aware that as he stalks the bear, the bear stalks him -- and that his survival is not guaranteed. Anyone not realizing that a grizzly is not just a target, deserves what he gets.

"ilya - they'd better be careful. The intelligent animals might hunt back. ;-p"

Yes, that ugly Gorilla incident on the calendar for 2,000 years from now.

Anybody notice how the Locheed lifting body design resembles Taylor's ship?

*cue spooky music*

WHERE do people like this earn a living? I'm sure his $1,000 a day appearances aren't enough to pay his cost-of-living. (Have you seen the prices on Whiskas lately??)

Oh, he's a computer programmer!

http://mirrors.meepzorp.com/ananova/tigerman/

That explains how he gets the money to fund his bizarre transformation.