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Book Review
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On a species level the tiger may be smaller but it also may not, here's why.....
How many Sumatran and Sunderban Tigers exist today, how many have been weighed and how does that number impact the far larger Tiger numbers as a whole? Between the sunderban and sumatran tiger population, how many are full grown adult males compared to Indo-Chinese, Amur and Bengal? According to this study that @Shardul posted http://www.wii.gov.in/images//images/doc...s_2014.pdf the sunderbans has a tiger population between "62-96" tigers compared to the rest of India which has an estimated population of "2226" tigers and this is from 2014, 2015 yielded higher numbers than the last year. Unless the sumatran tiger population is significantly higher than all other sub species populace, I don't see how the average would drop soo much. To my knowledge we have very few weights from Sumatran and Sunderban tiger populations, certainly not enough to even make a dent in the overall number. Not to mention, at least in sunderban, the tigers weighed usually were sick, malnourished or had become man eaters, I believe. According to few who have seen them, they are actually quite big animals when in good health. Sumatrans are obviously the smallest bar none, but still, I know of very few weights for them as well. Between the Sunderban and Sumatran Tigers, you are probably looking at a number that contributes to less than 10% of the entire Tiger population, so I highly doubt you would see a tiger average drop from lets say.... 190kg (amur, indo-chinese and bengal) to 160kg if you included the sumatran and sunderban tiger population. So while its nice to estimate, the numbers really hold no water outside of the verified weights we can go off of. In terms of the 220-260kg number, that is where I think you see the biggest difference. The number of measured males for tigers is far less than lions yet the mark mentioned seems to be hit more often for the tiger.  (12-20-2015, 08:53 PM)Pckts Wrote: On a species level the tiger may be smaller but it also may not, here's why.....I have seen a pair of Sunderban tigers male and female in an exhibit next to African lions and the male lions looked bigger than both tigers combined, even the lioness looked failry larger than the male tiger, the three males measured by Mukherjee and Mallick ( 120 kg, 95 kg, and 95kg) were in good health, the females measured by Barlow ( 72 kg and 75 kg) were in poor health, from the little information available we can say that Sunderban, Malaysian, and Sumatran tigers are quite small females 75-110 kg and males 72-148 kg. This small size is an adaptation to reflect the poor prey base. Malaysian tigers (around 500) Sumatran tigers (600) and Sunderban (maximum 400) would form 30% at least of the estimated 5000 wild tigers that cling to survival . The skull size reviewed by Barlow showed Sunderban tigers be likely smaller than Sumatran. For Indo-Chinese tigers the data is even more scarce...three captive males were 110,150,and 170 kg, a young wild male was 157 kg and Dr.Rabinowitz estimates large males to be under 180kg, they too suffer from the depletion of large prey and Muntjac and wild boar form their main prey items, in the Western Complex Forest in Thailand large bovids and sambar still exist and this gives hope that larger tigers are able of existing and breeding and hopefully repopulate their lost range. Recent data for Bengal tigers is also limited, not one sample over twenty , and as far as I could tell it was all for territorial males I only know of one transient adult male and one sub-adult. The best data we have is for Amur tigers, Kruger lions, and Serengeti lions where decade long studies have produced large and reliable data, other populations still need a lot of work
Book Review: "Prides: The Lions of Moremi" Pieter Kat and Chris Harvey
This is another hidden gem of a book, devoted to the study of the Okavango lions in Botswana from 1995 to 2000, the book describes the uniqueness of the Okavango lions and how they differ from the Kalahari lions and other lion populations in southern Africa. * The book provides great description of lion society and how in fact, the social structure of lions, is less developed than other social animals, lions did evolve from a solitary origin and this solitary inheritance is evident in their behaviour and explains a lot. The members are held together by bonds of familiarity rather than familiality * The authors describe the intelligence of lions, their ability to deceive each other and their prey, their ability to count, and their problem solving skills * The book focuses on the reproductive biology of both males and females and provides answers to the reasons of forming prides and male coalitions, infanticide, cub abandonment, multi-pride male coalitions, pride switching for males, the issues of paternity, female estrus biology. Staying a nomad versus owning a pride for males, sexual behaviour of nomadic males and females. * The authors describe different coalitions and far from being "always related...brothers and cousins" , it shows the pros and cons of teaming up with strangers of different origin, age, and size and how the roles of each male is different in functions like mating, confronting enemies, and hunting. * The authors describe situations where nomadic lions and rival males have joined pride males and females over large kills with practically no observed hostility!! And how pride males permitted old evicted males of feeding with the pride ( respect for the elderly?) * The book highlights the different predatory behaviour of different prides, the authors call lion prides the most formidable living terrestrial carnivore and explains how hunting is learned and perfected in different ways from time to time and from a pride to another, for example it describes predation on sub-adult elephants during the dry season and switching to buffalo,zebra, and wildebeest when the migratory herds return, it shows how one pride , the Santawani pride was "giraffe-specialists" that routinely killed adult giraffes and buffalos and they totally ignored baboons, they would not even scavenge dead baboons,whereas the Mogogelo pride have brought baboon hunting to an art. * The authors mention the local importance of lechwe , roan, and eland as secondary prey for Okavango lions * The book describes interactions between lions and co-predators : spotted hyenas, Wild dogs, leopards, and cheetahs. Competition with hyenas seems negligible and even when hyenas outnumbered lions 15 to one they did not attempt violent carcass take-overs.
Malayan tigers are almost extinct,
"The Malayan tiger qualifies for this category because the best available evidence indicates that the number of mature individuals is likely less than 250 animals and has declined by more than 25% in one generation (seven years). It also meets a second criteria – there are no pockets of forest in Malaysia with an estimated population of 50 or more mature tigers. The decline was first brought to national attention by Perhilitan and the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) last September when studies across three major tiger landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia between 2010 and 2013 suggested that there may only be 250-340 wild tigers left." http://www.bagheera.com/journal/malayan-...ngered.htm Sunderbans could be around 200 between the bangladesh and indian side "Tapan Kumar Dey, the government’s wildlife conservator, said analysis of camera footage from the year-long survey that ended in April found numbers ranged between 83 and 130, giving an average of 106. “So plus or minus we have around 106 tigers in our parts of the Sundarbans. It’s a more accurate figure,” Dey told Agence France-Presse about the survey, which has not yet been publicly released. About 74 tigers have previously been counted on the Indian side of the Sundarbans, which makes up nearly 40% of the forest straddling both countries over 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq m)." http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2...ans-forest The sumatran is also estimated around the 400-500 mark "It is estimated that only between 500-600 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild, and the actual number may be as low as 400. And their population is dwindling rapidly." http://www.tigersincrisis.com/sumatran_tiger.htm Indo-Chinese The Indochinese tiger is thought to number around 300 individuals. However this number is an estimate: due to restricted access to the border areas where the Indochinese tiger lives, relatively little is known about their population status. Most individuals (around 100) live in Thailand, with no more than 30 individuals per country in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR. The population in Myanmar is unknown. http://cambodia.panda.org/projects_and_r...011_16382/ Amur tigers are around 500 as well. And bengals were said to be around the 3000 mark after the most recent census. So between the Bengal, Amur and indo chinese you have almost 4,000 with around 600-800 of sumatran, sunderban tigers and malayan So really, we are looking at around 15% - 20% of the Tiger population being the smaller variety compared to the other sub species which all have no problem being larger than 160kg. Vietnam has produced large individuals in the past, the buffalo neck breaking tiger was from vietnam. And many other indo chinese tigers have been said to be much larger than 160kg as well, I know @guate or @peter have quite a library on old hunting weights of these cats. Even large male sumatrans have been 150kg or more, but obviously much more rare. So all that being said, I highly doubt that the significantly smaller number of 150kg or smaller tiger could impact the significantly higher number of 160kg or more tigers to create such a low average. (in males of course) Imagine the amur, indo chinese and bengal tiger numbers grow, and yes the sunderban, malayan and sumatran as well, I see no way that they latter 3 could affect the other 3 sub species that all get much larger than 160kg. The numbers are far to skewed in the Bengals favor compared to all others. (12-24-2015, 02:19 AM)Pckts Wrote: Malayan tigers are almost extinct,The figures that Kitchener and Yamaguchi are quoting are for present day, free-ranging , adult animals. I only use the IUCN numbers and estimates, they are slower to be published than national census but remain much more accurate, so let s stick to scientific official records: the IUCN latest numbers per subspecies are roughly 400 (altaica) 420 (corbetti) 441 to 679 (sumatrae) 250-350 (corbetti) 2000 (tigris without Sunderban) and 440 in the Sunderban so on average a total of about 4000 tigers and the presumed smaller tigers 1300 out of 4000 is over 30% . With time the share of Bengal tigers will increase, the promising increase in numbers of the tiger census in India were criticized by both Indian and western tiger biologists ( I hope they are wrong, tiger populations now are not more than the 1970's despite 45 years of protection). Again there is no recent scientific record of any Indochinese tiger over 180 kg , tigers can not keep that size by surviving on muntjac, I am in touch with Thai scientists working in the western forest complex but they would not disclose their data before publishing. Tigers are very adaptable and successful predators that occupy a wide range of habitat, certain conditions favor smaller size ( Sunderban, Malaysia, Sumatra) others medium size ( Indochinese and the extinct South China tigers) and others larger tigers ( most Bengal and Amur tigers)...a small tiger is as much a tiger as a large one, Indian reserves will reach capacity soon, and Amur tigers do not have a lot of suitable habitat to expand to, the best hope for tigers is to repopulate them in lost areas in China, Indochina, and Sumatra. So even if they are 'too small" for your perception of a tiger they are the tigers that could possibly save the species.
" So even if they are 'too small" for your perception of a tiger they are the tigers that could possibly save the species. "
I never said such a thing, I simply stated that the number of these tigers compared to the number of Bengal and Amur would not be able to subtract the much higher average to 160kg. And while you can say what you will about the census, the number is still 3,000 or so. The http://www.wii.gov.in/images//images/doc...s_2014.pdf Already showed a number of 2226 tigers over the age 1.5yr and that was from data collected till 2014, populations and technology there have been slowly on the rise in most parks I see and the capabilities of counting them accurately makes me believe their 3000 est. # is as accurate as any other number prior. Also, the IUCN for bengal tigers up to 2011 has their population at est. 2500 http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/summary/136899/0 In regards to verified weights, if that were the case the average would be exponentially higher since the number of verified Sumatran, Indo Chinese, Malayan and Sunderban tigers is far lower than the verified Amur and Indian Bengal tiger weights. The IUCN report for Malayan up to 2014 say that the population is 80-120 breeding adults. I know Peter and Guate have quite a few old records of indo chinese tigers that are quite large, verified, no. But very few tigers and lions are "verified" to go off of. I'm off for the holidays and I wish you all a happy holiday. I'll try to do as much research as possible over the break and see what I find. Regards.... (12-24-2015, 05:28 AM)Pckts Wrote: " So even if they are 'too small" for your perception of a tiger they are the tigers that could possibly save the species. " Tigers over 1.5 years ok could be as high as 3000, I am talking about adult animals only, not including sub-adults ( 1.5 to 4 years) so you need to reduce the number by a third at least,and not restricted to breeding adults...half of studied male tigers do not succeed in establishing a territory and breed, so you can see my point. Scientific recent data for Bengal tigers is also deficient, I think less than 50 readings total. Data for Amur tigers, Kruger lions, and Serengeti lions are reliable Have safe and enjoyable holidays. Best regards
Book Review: The Tigers of Bandhavgarh Iain Green
Iain Green is a renowned wildlife photographer he presents a beautiful photographic book about the tigers of Bandhavgarh in central India. The book does not contain much data as it is not a science book but it provides great photographs of every living thing in Bandhavgarh particularly one tiger dynasty: The descendants of a tigress named Sita who was made famous by BBC and Animal Planet documentaries, Sita and her mate Charger ruled the forest for years, Sita produced six litters of cubs, totalling 18 cubs, and there are amazing photos of the tiger family. Another dynasty in the area are the descendants of tigress Bachchi three male cubs named Raj, Sundar, and Barra Larka who also became famous. Green follows the growth of the boys showing them maturing, killing sambar stags and livestock, and starting to claim territory. He has photos of Sundar stealing a chital stag from a female leopard and treeing her. Sundar dominance did not stop at leopards and wolves, he also challenged his grandfather Charger and replaced the old tiger as the king of the jungle. The book also has a family tree showing the relationships among the tigers who were all related to Sita except one migrant male. Lots of photos of magnificent males, gorgeous tigresses, and cute cubs.
Book Review: Tiger, Tiger Karine Lou Matignon and Jean-Jacques Annaud
This book accompanied the excellent film "Two Brothers" by accomplished French film director Jean-Jacques Annaud, the film recounts the story of two captive tiger cubs in French Cambodia in the 1920's and how they make it in the wild ( interestingly the actor tigers both cubs and adults were Bengal tigers, Jean-Jacques Annaud could not find tiger actors from P.t.corbetti origin), the film by the way is excellent check it out. The book is a pictorial book about the making of the film, the training of the tigers, and the role of the tiger in human culture, folklore, and art. The history of human fascination with tigers and its symbolism in human psyche. There are many amazing photos including some colonial era photos from Indochina and Indonesia
Book Review: Tigers Michael W.Richards and Hashim Tyabji
This book accompanied the BBC Series Tiger-Spy in the jungle, it was filmed in Pench national park in India by Richards, Indian naturalist Tyabji provides the information on tiger ecology to go with the awesome photographs taken by Richards. Some interesting points in this book: * The untrained eye will mistake sub-adult tigers for adults, a two year old male "looked" adult to the photography staff before the mahouts and biologist pointed out his age. This is a common error and there are many hunting reports that include/mistake sub-adult tigers and lions for adults, a two year old tiger/lion is a massive animal but by no means full grown nor sexually mature. * An encounter between a tigress and a large python (no injuries to either) * An encounter between a tigress and a leopard, the tigress treed the leopard and attempted to climb the tree after it, unsuccessfully of course. * The inclusion of elephants as potential killers of tiger cubs ( no other documentation of such threat) *Interactions with sloth bear: 2 sub-adult male tigers attempted an attack on an adult male sloth bear to end up being chased by the angry bear, in another incident, Charger, an adult male tiger killed and ate an adult sloth bear ( sex undefined) * The mortality rate of Pench tigers 60-70% from birth until establishing a territory ( high infanticide rates?) * Mentions undescribed hunting records of 327 kg male in northern India and a 363 kg of an Amur male * Longevity maximums of 16 years for females and 12-13 years for males * A tiger can eat up to 35 kg at a time ( no details given) * A record of a tigress killing two chital stags within minutes of each other The bouldercam, logcam, and elephant-held cameras took great pictures of the tigers and other animals that complemented the excellent text.
Book Review: "Tiger" Stephen Mills
An amazing book and a must have for any tiger enthusiast or big cats lover, after the iconic two editions of "Tigers of The World" this is the third most informative book about tigers I have ever read ( and I have read quite a few ) Stephen Mills is a naturalist and a wildlife film maker for the BBC, he studied tigers in Nepal and India for over 25 years and he presents his own knowledge and observation as well as analyzing the works of top tiger scientists like Sunquist, Seidensticker, Dinerstein, McDougal, Smith, Karanth,and Chundawat. The book discusses tiger predatory behaviour, feeding ecology, and prey range including some unusual prey item like a 6 meter long python and three rhino calves, it moves to the interactions with other predators ( including an account by hunter Kenneth Anderson where a large pack of dholes killed a tigress at the cost of six dead dholes) The book discusses at length tiger relations with other tigers, mating, rearing the cubs, the role of the male as a father, the sociability of tigers versus their territorial behaviour, the dispersal of sub-adults, tiger-tiger violence in areas like Kanha and Kaziranga and its almost non-existence in areas where most tigers are related Ranthambhore and Bandhavgarh Mills discusses man-eating tigers in different areas in Asia and throughout the documented history with particular focus on the Sundarban tigers who appear to always attack the right handed side of their human victims!! He still considers tigers to be less likely to attack humans than lions would, he was never attacked by tigers but had several frightening encounters with young lionesses in particular, with an old injured lioness in Gir forest almost killing him. The next chapter is about tiger census and how national estimates in tiger range countries are either grossly inaccurate or overly optimistic when reviewed by international organizations ( IUCN, WCS, WWF) for example an estimate from Myanmar put the tiger numbers in the country close to 1000 tigers, when IUCN experts reviewed the status of tigers there they estimated less than 150 at best, the best strategies for conserving tigers were discussed most importantly sufficient prey base, even with sufficient space tigers can not live on rodents, also increasing the numbers of elephants, nilgai, and peafowl is not going to help tigers, maximizing the numbers of sambar, chital, and wildboar is a priority. The last chapter is devoted to the best places to see tigers in every single country, very important information if you are planning a tiger safari at some time.
Ranthambhore seems to have less violence than some parks but it stills has some fights here and there. Bandhavgrh has quite a bit of violence though. But I don't think either has the same amount as kaziranga or Kahna but there are a few factors in those places that contribute to that.
I'm also sure the census counts have gotten significantly more accurate since 2004, when the book was published. Seems like a nice read though, tfs.
Book Review: The Valmik Thapar books ``Wild Tigers of Ranthambhore`` ``The Tiger`s Destiny`` and `` Tiger The Ultimate Guide``
Thapar is a film maker and conservationist that spent over 25 years filming and observing the tigers of Ranthambhore and he contributed a lot to the conservation of tigers in general and in Rajastan in particular. The three books share a lot of the material so I decided to combine them together to lessen duplication: Wild Tigers of Ranthambhore is very much like a diary that Thapar wrote with the park director Fateh Singh Rathore dating back to the mid 1970`s and up until the year 2000 , some tigers became famous thanks to Thapar s book and films tigresses like Padmini, Noon, and Lakshmi and tigers like Genghis and Kublai..their behaviour shed new light on tiger-tiger relations, family life, hunting strategies , and interactions with leopards and mugger crocodiles: * Padmini killed a nilgai bull and shared the kill with 8 other tigers including her cubs from current and previous litters and even unrelated adult tigers, Padmini controlled the proceedings directing which tiger was allowed to eat and when ( no two adult tigers at the same time) so she was dominant even over the adult male, 9 tigers on one kill but with good table manners, no squabbling , no noise, no aggression and Padmini was ruling the show! * Genghis was an adult male who developed a previously unobserved technique and hunting sambar: He would hide in the tall grass on the bank of a lake and wait for sambar herds to waddle into knee deep water , the deep water will negate the sambar best advantage speed, Genghis then bounds into the water and almost invariably catches a sambar for an easy meal, this technique led him to confrontations with mugger crocodile that usually went his way, even when he lost a kill to them for 12 hours he managed to regain it with the crocs unable to break through the tough sambar hide. He even taught his mate Noon how to hunt that way. * Kublai was the perfect father and husband...his mating sessions with Noon are the only time Thapar watched such event, the tenderness he showed towards his cubs and his mate made biologist reconsider the role of the male tiger as a father and as a mate * Then there was Lakshmi a confrontational tigress that feared nothing: She started by terrorizing her sisters and evicting them from their natal range, then she turned on her own mother and deposed her as queen of the lakes, she fought with several males to protect cubs and carcasses, she chased and treed leopards, she stole kills from crocodiles and famously killed a large crocodile ( in poor shape I admit but still she showed who was boss) * There was a magnificent account with great pictures of a struggle between Noon and a magnificent sambar stag, the stag escaped injured and died a month later, Noon killed another stag the next day, she was an excellent sambar killer. The book boasts hundreds of great pictures of tigers, their prey, and competitors ( Leopards, striped hyenas, mugger crocodiles, golden jackals, and sloth bears) The Tiger s Destiny: The first part of the book describes the cult of the tiger and its effect on culture, art,and religions in various parts of Asia The second part is about the life of the tiger which is very similar to the data of the first book but with a little bit more on the predation on wild boar and how this strong prey can challenge tigers except the experienced ones, he describes an account where the boar defeats the tiger and escapes,and another where the tiger kills a large boar. Kills of sambar, chital, nilgai, peacock, langur,wildbaor, and mugger crocodile are documented with great photographs The last chapter is about the future of the tiger in which Thapar shows his concern for the plight of the tigers and how he personally has seen their decline and change in behaviour. The Ultimate Guide: It lives to its name in the sense that Thapar compiled a good amount of the current knowledge of tigers and had a number of experts to contribute including western and Indian biologists, conservationists, and park officials. One of the contributors Dr Andrew Kitchener presents a good analysis on the validity of subspecies versus clines and ecotypes and the conservation significance of that versus the genetic significance. Most of the information provided is about the Bengal tigers but Thapar did well to have Dale Miquelle and John Goodrich to contribute to include the Amur tiger as well. The book is a great source of rare information such as: * A photo of a tigress suckling her full grown son who is bigger than her. * An account that Thapar witnessed where a tigress killed a male tiger while defending her cubs, he also quotes W.Ritchie a British forest officer who witnessed an Assam tigress killing a male tiger in 1950 (also to protect her cubs) *The timid behaviour of male tigers against man versus that of tigresses ( he quotes Chundawat and the tigers he studied at Panna) *The unusual vocalization of tigress Machli in March 2002 , roaring 226 times in one week *A number of unusual prey items: A jungle cat, pangolins, monitor lizards, grass hoppers, seals in Russia, and pythons * Dangerous prey that have killed attacking tigers: gaur, water buffalo, wild boar * Connell (1944) account of a dhole pack killing a male tiger ( he killed 12 out of 22 dholes that attacked him) and Anderson (1950) of another pack killing a tigress after she killed six dholes out of 23. And a third tiger losing his sambar kill to a pack of dholes in Ranthambhore in 1959 ( Keri Singh) recent tiger-dhole interactions however are in the favour of tigers. * Interactions with sloth bears ( with mixed outcomes) are described also tiger dominance over leopards. * An emaciated young male in Russia that was 85 kg only and in a very sorry state, they named him Vladimir, treated him and kept him captive, he recovered remarkably. (12-27-2015, 10:36 AM)Pckts Wrote: Ranthambhore seems to have less violence than some parks but it stills has some fights here and there. Bandhavgrh has quite a bit of violence though. But I don't think either has the same amount as kaziranga or Kahna but there are a few factors in those places that contribute to that. When the tigers of Bandhavgarh were all related to Sita they had virtually no violent fights recorded, with the arrival of dispersing foreign males this have picked up, in both there and Ranthambhore it is very difficult for foreign dispersing males to arrive to the area as there are very few tigers around these two parks, whereas that is an ongoing event in other areas like Kahna and Kaziranga, combined with constraints on space, prey, and access to breeding females we end up in tiger wars. Interestingly it is breeding females that trigger violence among males, in Chitwan , a territorial male tolerated the presence of a transient male in his home range until one of his females became in estrus then he violently evicted the young male.
Book Review: The Face of The Tiger Dr.Charles McDougal
This book is a classic work on the ecology of Bengal tigers in Nepal and some areas in India. Dr.McDougal studied tigers in Chitwan between 1961 and 1977 , he presents his observations and analysis as well as comparisons with the findings of Schaller in his excellent book "The Deer and The Tiger" , as well as reviewing the information from the hunting literature. These two books by Schaller and McDougal transformed our knowledge of Panthera tigris tigris from hunters tales to biologist-documented facts. The book describes tigers, their habitat, their main prey, their home range, the demographics of Chitwan tigers, mating, bringing up the cubs, tiger social behavior, and conflict with man. Most of the information was either ground breaking or elaborated on existing findings. Some points of interest: * McDougal is right in considering tigers in the Nepalese and Indian Terai ( and their cousins in Bhutan, Assam, and Tibet) to be ecologically distinct from those farther south in the sub-continent, the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys that separate these tigers have long been cultivated and densely populated by man. * He shows the difference in habitat between Chitwan ( dense vegetation, water year round ) and the dry forests of central India ( Kanha ) and the differences in behavior in tigers from both areas. * He studied the tiger feeding ecology showing Chitwan tigers to prey most frequently on chital, sambar, hog deer, and wild boar. He compares his findings with those with Schaller's from Kahna where chital , sambar, barasingha, and gaur accounted for most of food. McDougal found that Chitwan tigers hunt gaur very rarely due to difference in habitat, he also cites difference in habitat as the reason why tigers do not depend on antelopes (Nilgai, black buck, chowsingha, chinkara ) in different areas in the sub-continent. * He observed three rhino calf kills in four and a half years, as insignificant percentage of prey as it is, one calf must have weighed close to 1000 LBS which provided sizeable meals to the male and female tigers that ate it. * McDougal considers 77 LBs to be the most a tiger can eat in a single meal. Feast of famine lifestyle. * He considers interactions with leopards and dholes to be minimal and states that sloth bears, pythons, and mugger crocodiles are not major competitors to tigers. * He shows that territorial fights in Chitwan are the exception not the rule as competing tigers avoid each other in space and time through marking * He estimates mortality of cubs in the first two years at 50% stating that a good number dies when the cubs are less than two months old and have not emerged from the den, infanticidal males, leopards, jackals, dholes and wolves where present, fire, drowning, extreme weather, starvation, and disease all threaten cubs. * McDougal provides important data about the growth rate of Bengal tigers: Males: around 100LBS at six months, 160-190 LBS at one year, 260-290 LBS at two years, 400-450 LBS fully grown Females: around 70 LBS at six months, 125 to 155 LBS at one year, 210-230 LBS at two years, 300 LBS fully grown * Male cubs are more adventurous than their sisters, they learn how to hunt quicker, and leave their mothers at an earlier age. * A sub-adult male had a porcupine quill embedded in his shoulder, he starved, dropping to 105 LBS at his death ( a sub-adult of the same length shot by Hewett was 236 LBS so that shows the sorry state he was in) * Tigers are essentially solitary but they are not unsociable, associations between adults and cubs, and adults among themselves can be observed for a brief time when conditions are favorable ( e.g.large kills) , McDougal describes an incident where a tigress with her two grown cubs male and female, were at a bait with an adult male that was consorting with her, and a second adult tigress with minimal aggression. * The good "table manners" of tigers : on 59 occasions two or more tigers were present at a kill, only on six times two animals ate at the same time , never were two adults eating simultaneously , on these six times the adult ate at the rump ( the choicest spot) and the sub-adult ate from the forequarters. ( Schaller describes two tigresses eating a buffalo with tension and aggressive displays) * multiple tigers were seen on 40 occasions out of 836...the tiger is a lonely hunter. A great read indeed. |
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