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

[peter]

1 - SUZIE GREEN

I read the part you posted, Guate. The conclusion is she heard a bell but couldn't quite find the origin. As she apparently was unwilling to do some research, the result was a collection of misleading rumours. If I was to write a book in this way, I would have finished before I was born. 

Jankowski (in 'The Tiger's Claw') confirmed the rumour about the Imperial Hunting Reserve, but I didn't read anything about Indian tigers exported to China. This is the map in 'The Tiger's Claw again:

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If we add the Amur tiger distribution map of 2011, the conclusion is the Imperial Hunting Reserve was located in a region that apparently is attractive for tigers (Changbai Mountain Range):

*This image is copyright of its original author

     
This of course doesn't mean the region was tiger country 5-10 centuries ago, but it seems likely as the region still is wild and rich in prey animals.



2 - KOREAN AND AMUR TIGERS

According to Heptner ('Mammals of the Sovjet-Union'), the old Russian hunters distinguished between a large, pale, long-haired animal (the Amur tiger) and a smaller, reddish and short-haired tiger (the Korean tiger):

*This image is copyright of its original author

Dunbar-Brander (in Pocock, 1929) visited the region. He saw Korean tigers and a number of prints of Amur tigers. He confirmed Amur tigers were larger animals. Even Indian tigers didn't compare to them:

*This image is copyright of its original author

I read the article of Lee et al (2012) you posted. There's no question Amur and Korea tigers belong to the same subspecies (Panthera tigris altaica).

Many hunters in the past noted the remarkable difference in size between tigers in this region. It's understandable they thought the region had different subspecies, but it also was well-known that big cats show a lot of individual variation, even within regions. Kitchener thought individual variation within regional types was more outspoken than between regions. We also have to remember sexual dimorphism in Amur tigers, at least in the skull, is more pronounced than in Indian tigers.

The remarkable amount of variation noticed by some in Korean tigers could have been a result of three widely different regions. The northern part is close to Manchuria and south-east Russia, where large animals are typical (see, for example, 'The Tiger's Claw'). Central parts of Korea, although wild, did and do not have enough prey animals for a healthy tiger population. This is the reason they often turned to cattle and humans. The southern part of Korea is surrounded by water and isolated. We know dwarfism is a close relative of isolation. As long as tigers were able to travel freely and mixed, different types were seen in close proximity. Barclay wrote large individuals were seen in the most southern part of Korea. When the situation changed and regional populations became isolated, large animals disappeared. One probably reason is lack of food. Another is a lack of influx. Finally, we have to remember conditions in this part of Asia can be volatile. Many tigers will be affected sooner or later and it will show in weights and seasonal variation. 


3 - CASPIAN AND AMUR TIGERS

This is something that needs to be discussed, I think. Everything I read points in the direction of Amur tigers going west, whereas recent research pointed in the direction of Caspian tigers going east. This is a map from Heptner & Sludskij:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The only conclusion I can get to at this point is not enough is known. There is a lot of information. Most of it is correct in itself, but the question is what is more correct. Another question is what the effect of the changes after the last glacial maximum was.

The two maps of Kitchener and Dugmore seem to be more important than anything else, because they included climate, vegetation and precipitation. Their map, in my opinion, predicts the presence of herbivores. As these are the objects of desire for tigers, they also predict the presence of tigers.

If they were close, which I think is likely, we definitely need to discuss the movements of tigers between the Caspian region, North-China, Mongolia and the Amur region. Have another look at the two maps posted before:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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