The Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)

[GuateGojira]

Following with the analysis of the skull size, as surrogate of overall dimensions of the Sunda tigers, I manage to create the following graphic, comparing the GSL of the three populations of Sunda tigers, grouped in a single subspecies (Panthera tigris sondaica) following Wilting et al. (2015).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Source: Buzas & Farkas, 1996; Mazák et al., 1977; Mazák, 1983; Mazák & Groves, 2006; Sody, 1949.

At first sight, we can see that the Sumatran and the Javanese tigers are about the same size, the sample sizes are similar so we can get a good idea of the size variation. It is interesting that in the case of the males, Javanese tigers top the line while in the case of the females, Sumatran specimens show the maximum size, however in both cases, the differences are minimal (less than 2 cm in the extreme case).

Balinese tigers seems to be particularly smaller, take in count that I did not include the female (holotype) of 252 mm as is a subadult. However, we most remember that there are only 3 male and 4 female specimens and all fit very well in the range of the other populations. Besides, the photographic evidence suggest a similar size, in the case of the largest Balinese males.

This suggest me, that even when the Balinese tigers are in fact, the smallest of the populations, the difference in size should not be too dramatic as we could think. Besides, with body masses calculated between 78-125 kg (using the condylobasal length, based in Christiansen & Harris (2009)), they match the weight of the modern Sundarbans tigers.


I think that making a comparative image, summarizing the three populations like a single subspecies is correct, as the smallest Sumatran-Javanese tigers are smaller than the smallest Balinese tigers on record. Reply