Jahangir's keen eye observed the intriguing correspondence between the pattern of stripes of the zebra and the tiger. Since some doubted that the black stripes had been painted onto its body, an inquiry was instantly ordered. It was correctly made from a live specimen which seems to have been presented to Jahangir by a foreign visitor. Professor Erwin Stresemann has dated this miniature to the last years of the emperor's life when ill-health had stopped his pen, and thus deprived the world of an eyewitness account of an exceedingly curious bird by one of the most interesting figures in Indian history and a naturalist par excellence. Accuracy achieved by well-defined outlines and the rendering of maximum detail are the chief characteristics of Mughal studies of nature.
Attention is paid to the use of pigments that reflect the actual color of the subject.
The artists paint them after careful study, as their creations are not merely a copy of the external appearance of the animals but objective illustrations of their mood. That there is a typical conscious enlargement of the figure in proportion to the space is clear. It is the Mughal painter's special way of according dignity to the subject of his painting. Indian art also includes depictions of animals which are made up of human figures or other elements from throughout nature - called Composite Animals. These images invert the normal Indian approach to interpreting form.