ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[Matias]

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It is an interesting question that a large tiger occupies Borneo in MIS 2. The ecological conditions of this time are very different compared to the warming that we have had since the Holocene. The island now has only small cats (the absence of the Panthera Pardus in Borneo and also in Sumatra) is a point where some ambivalence of motives must be found. This specimen may have occupied the island only while it was connected to the mainland - a cyclical/periodic, non-constant and stable occupation movement. I find it extremely unlikely that tigers occupied Borneu in the last millennia of our era. I'm talking about natural occupation, excluding anthropogenic introductions, whether intentional or not, during the millennia that peoples from the tiger range began to occupy this island. Being a large-bodied specimen, his adaptation to the insular environment was too much for him.

Why the tiger and the leopard when they arrived in Borneo, through land bridges, did not remain as residents is the question that I think is most interesting. The animals that prey on the mainland are almost all present in Borneo. Contrary to what the author of the article suggests: "A mixture of ecological and anthropological factors is probably the cause of the disappearance of the Borneo tiger"; I would bet 100% on the ecological issue, more precisely on the physiological inability, due to the wet and humid environment, which notoriously has to do with other environmental considerations which made it difficult to position itself in the ecological niche of this large island. Reply