WildFact
›
Premier Section
›
Edge of Extinction
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
|
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
|
SIBERIAN TIGER QUEST (2012)
a - Introduction Although Amur tigers feature in many documentaries, footage of wild Amur tigers is rare. Make that very rare. In 2005, the situation changed when Sun Yong Park (apologies if a mistake was made) emerged from the frozen forest. He wasn't your typical filmmaker. According to Morgan, Park studied literature. At the end of the last century or thererabout, he was sent to southeastern Russia by the Korean Educational Television. The aim was a documentary about Amur tigers. Park, a very serious man, took his time to gather information. After many months of hiking, he knew where to find wild boars and deer. When he had located them, he also knew where to find tigers. Although one hide featured in his great documentary, he had more than one. The hide that featured in his documentary was a small hole in the ground. In that hole, he lived and slept. At times, he was there for months. After a long time, he was able to film his first wild tiger. It was an adult male in his prime. Park called him 'King Big'. The King, in spite of his size, was an attentive tiger. When he found out something wasn't quite right near his deer kill (referring to the camera near the deer), he moved on. Park noticed that Amur tigers knew the forest very well. Anything out of the ordinary was detected and investigated. Tigers, he said in the documentary 'Siberian Tiger Quest', " ... don't like the strange changes in the forest ... ". Tigress 'Bloody Mary', who had three cubs, knew about the hide as well. Although she was careful, he saw her and her cubs at times. The best time to see them was in winter, when the moon was full and the snow was falling. Although she apparently trusted him to a degree, things changed when one of the cubs came over to investigate the hide one day in February. His example was followed by the other cubs. When all three were standing on the roof of his hide, it collapsed. One of the cubs nearly fell in, but managed to get out. There were no direct measures, because the tigers were as surprised as he was. But he was warned by Bloody Mary not long after the incident. For three days in a row, she demonstrated in front of his hide. You have to be on your own in a small hole in the ground in tiger country to understand what he experienced. Not long after her demonstration, Bloody Mary was killed by a gun trap. Park was devastated. The cubs, old enough to hunt, separated. One cub, a female, moved away on her own. She made it to adulthood. The male cub and his other sister stayed together for some time. At the coast, they separated. Although they stayed clear from humans, both were killed well before they reached adulthood. Poaching in that period was an always present danger. b - Chris Morgan Chris Morgan, an ecologist, had studied bears, wolves and cougars in his home state Washington. When he saw Park's documentary, he decided to move to Russia. Park, who had been five (...) years in Wild Russia to get the footage needed for the documentary that affected many, including Morgan, was his mentor. The decision to feature Park shows how much he respects him. c - The documentary Although it has no 'spectacular' footage of Amur tigers, the documentary 'Siberian Tiger Quest' is interesting all the way. It shows that Amur tigers are very elusive animals. Make that thinking animals. They need to be, because the forest has few animals. If you want to survive in Sichote-Alin, you need to be able to find them, especially in winter, when bears, an alternative source of food for many Amur tigers, hibernate. Another reason to be careful all the time is humans. Bloody Mary was shot and so where two of her three cubs. Although the Russians seem to be more committed than ever, poaching is always close. In the documentary, when following a tigress, Morgan and Park found out they were not the only ones interested in her. They also heard a shot. Poachers, Park said. A region with 60 000 hunters is dangerous at the best of times. Amur tigers know. In Sichote-Alin, the north and the south meet. In summer, the forest is dense, lush and full of life. Almost subtropical, many say. In winter, temperatures drop to minus 30 Celcius. Animals adapt. Bears hibernate, birds, apart from crows, leave and wild boars and deer are on the move all the time. Wolves are few and far between, as they struggle with energy deficits in that period. Furthermore, they know they are on the menu. Since it was launched in 1992, the Siberian Tiger Project resulted in many interesting documents. Although we know more about Amur tigers than ever before, I feel we still know next to nothing. I do know, however, that the Russian far East is a region of great beauty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4NKJJcVk1s Morgan also took a lot of good photographs: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/siberian-tiger-quest-chris-morgans-siberian-tiger-photo-album/7907/#0
KOREAN TIGER DOCUMENTARY
I found this documentary on the internet. In the first part, tigers feature. Between 6:00-7:00, you can see a few photographs of tigers shot in Korea a long time ago. Rare photographs, they are. They underline that tigers in Korea were a bit smaller than those in Russia. Quite long, but less robust. Could have been a result of the conditions in Korea. The documentary also has footage of the rare Amur leopard and a number of smaller wild cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOyBf5nx3nc
JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHER T. FUKUDA TALKS ABOUT WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
Footage of wild Amur tigers, as stated in the post about S.Y. Park ('Siberian Tiger Quest'), is very rare. Same for photographs of wild Amur tigers. This is the man who recently added a number of beautiful photographs of wild Amur tigers. His lecture (English subtitles) is very interesting: http://en.save-leopard.ru/photo_video/20170131/340863.html
'POPULATION AND HABITAT OF THE AMUR TIGER IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST' (Pikunov, D.G., in: 'Achievements in the Life Sciences', Vol. 8, Issue 2, Oct. 2014, pp. 145-149)
Today, cubs included, there are 450-500 Amur tigers in the Russian Far East and the extreme northeast of China, maybe a bit more. It took a very long time to get there. The present area of the tiger in the Russian Far East is 156 000 - 160 000 square km (...). Although it is an enormous area, it isn't enough to accomodate more tigers. If the Russians really want at least 500 adult tigers, thus ensuring the long-term conservation of Amur tigers, they, according to Pikunov, have no option but to add two protective zones of 45 000 - 50 000 square km. with centres in the Sichote-Alin and Lazovsky reserves: " ... The creation of protective zones is the only route to preserving the natural complex of the Sichote-Alin, including the Amur tiger in Russia ... " (from the abstract). The paper is interesting: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2078152015000152 Based on everything I read and saw, I concluded that conservation of the Amur tiger is taken very seriously in Russia. Legislation has been adapted and poachers now face severe penalties. When you read the paper, you'll find a link to other documents. I can recommend: 'Assessing the influence of environmental parameters on Amur tiger distribution in the Russian far East using a Maxent modeling approach' (Matyuskin et al, 2014). Interesting read as well. Those involved concluded that elevation was a better predictor of habitat suitability than habitat type. The most suitable habitats (for Amur tigers) are concentrated in the southern and western parts of the Sichote-Alin mountain range.
TWO WILD AMUR TIGRESSES PHOTOGRAPHED IN 2016
The two pictures below are from the Russian project ('The Amur Tiger Programme'). The first tigress seems to be marking her territory. S.Y. Park, who was 5 years in Amur tiger country, thought Amur tigers use fresh snow to hunt. The cubs he saw playing in front of his hide also enjoyed fresh snow. This tigress below seems to be in prime condition:  *This image is copyright of its original author The tiger featuring in the second picture isn't a male, but a tigress. She has 2 cubs (at the back). When the picture was taken (camera trap, I assume), they seemed to be doing great:  *This image is copyright of its original author At the moment, there are about 500-540 wild Amur tigers (immatures included). It's quite an achievement if you realise that they live in a region that has 60 000 hunters. The Russians stepped up legislation and protection and it seems to have an effect. The aim is 500 adult Amur tigers in a few years from now. This goal, according to D. Pikunov (see the previous post), can only be achieved if two new protected zones (about 50 000 square km. in total) will be added to the 160 000 square km. Amur tigers have now. If his proposal is adopted, Amur tigers will have over 200 000 square km. at their disposal in the near future. A huge investment, but it seems to pay. Political will and commitment are key factors for protection and it starts at the top. It is a fact that Putin has shown a keen interest in wildlife in general and Amur tigers in particular. At the moment, Russia, although severely hit by low returns for oil and sanctions, is one of the most successful countries in the department of tiger protection. The aim for now is 500 adult Amur tigers in 2022. If they succeed, this means there will be about 650-800 wild Amur tigers of all ages. This seems to be the limit in Russia for now. I don't know how the Chinese are doing, but as the northeastern part of China (Jilin) apparently has breeding Amur tigers, one has to assume they are trying to keep up with the Russians. If everything works out as planned, there could be about a 1000 (most probably a bit less) wild Amur tigers in 2022. This means 200-250 adult males. Not quite enough to produce an average that compares to the average of a century ago (about 475 pounds), but enough to see a few very large individuals every now and then. The Russians use heel width as an indicator of size. The width of the heel of an average adult male (ranging between 160-200 kg.) is 10-11,5 cm. A big male (over 200 kg.) has a heel width of 11,5-12,5 cm. A male over 200 kg. is quite something today. And how about the giants seen occasionally a century ago? At least one male has a heel width of 13 cm. I don't know if they have seen him, but I do know those in the know were amazed. One day, they will release a picture of this giant. (02-25-2017, 09:01 AM)sanjay Wrote: Credit to @P.T.Sondaica for this Image The article is from a newspaper. The language is Dutch. As the Dutch were in Indonesia until 1951, the newspaper could have been for the Dutch community in Indonesia. I think it was, as it is about a famous hunter (Mr. ledeboer) and has a number of details only interesting for those living in Indonesia. The title is 'Lonely in the jungle'. The subtitle is: 'Hunting with Mr. ledeboer - Already killed over a 100 tigers - His rifles - Misconceptions about tigers'. The article has two parts. The left part, in black, says that Mr. ledeboer lives in a large house in Wadoeng-West, not too far from Glenmore. He already was a legend during his life, as he hunted tigers alone and on foot. He never shot one from a tree. The right part of the article is about misconceptions. It says that many books about tigers have inaccurate information. One book, printed in 1889 and written by a Mr. Bos, a teacher at a school for agriculture, says that Javan tigers are living in the most populous areas and that they prefer humans over animals (...). Mr. Ledeboer, at least I assume it was him, says it's total crap. The fact that the book was written in 1889 is no excuse, he added. The article obviously is much longer, as the left and right part are not connected in any way. It's clear that a large part of it is missing. Judging from the photograph and the comment (it says 'The tiger of this story'), the article was about a tiger that Mr. ledeboer shot. Based on the photograph, I'd say it was an adult male Javan tiger. I can confirm that Mr. ledeboer had quite a reputation as a tiger hunter back then. He is mentioned in different books and shot a lot of tigers. Initially, he was active on Java. Later, he apparently also hunted in Sumatra. In a Dutch museum, I saw a skull of a male Javan tiger allegedly shot by Mr. Ledeboer. The lable has a lot of info about Mr. Ledeboer and the tiger. Could have been written a century ago. Unfortunately, most of the info is inaccurate. The one who wrote it, said the tiger was the largest Mr. Ledeboer had shot on Java. However. The skull was well below par in all respects. It was no surprise, as the skull belonged to a young animal. Returning to the article. The one who posted it has to find the complete article. We would also like to know the name of the newspaper. And the date of publication. Things like that. This will allow me to go to a museum over here and find it. I'll get back to Javan tigers and skulls in some time. Everything needed to get to a number of tables is ready. Same for Panthera tigris sumatrae and Panthera tigris balica. I'm now busy with the other subspecies. The tables are needed for the papers I want to write with Tigerluver.   (02-25-2017, 01:47 PM)peter Wrote: Returning to the article. The one who posted it has to find the complete article. We would also like to know the name of the newspaper. And the date of publication. Things like that. This will allow me to go to a museum over here and find it. Thank you for the translation @peter. never seen that male javan tiger shot by Mr. Ledeboer before. for your information Glenmore is located in Banyuwangi, the most eastern part of Java island. Meru Betiri National Park is also located in this small city. after doing a quick research i found the picture coming from a facebook community called Banjoewangi Tempoe Doloe (old time Banyuwangi) and according to them, the article is from an old Dutch newspaper 'de Indische Courant' Februari 16 1940. maybe you can find the original archive there in your country? and here is Mr. Ledeboer with another tiger (i think it's a female javan tiger).  *This image is copyright of its original author maybe anyone could do the estimation of her measurement? 
Hello guys, I am Korean.This is some interesting things I found out.
Korean tiger was small, but some males were huge. Barclay wrote he shot and measured a male tiger of 292 cm long in 1903. But other Korean hunters told him that they've been caught the even larger tigers before. This male Korean tiger skin is bought the tiger from that farmer with 50 paddies (equivalent as 18,000,000 dollars these days) and brought it to school. The size of this tigress was 160 cm body length, 180 kg, 95 cm shoulder height (not sure if it was weighted correctly). If you see the tiger specimen with kids and woman. She was very small tigress. The Korean tiger could reach large size to really really small s She was killed in her. The SKo, Japanese zoologists and naturalists, and Sv clearly recorded the Korean tigers had a shor Korean tiger had a very beautiful reddiAlso theia. Bigger male tiger name is He is actually younger brother of famonown as famous "Final 16" tiger in youtube). He is about is about 214 cm long excluding tail, and around 220 to 230 kg in empty stomach and 250 kg when he eats enough. I think He is about 270 to 280 kg. This was him and other lions and bengal tigers whe I heard a lot of nonsense about this in youtube and websites like this before. But truth is that Final 16 became the king when he was 3. Final 16 was just extremely talent fighter. He defeated Iothers king lions) and when he was just 3 years old. However, keepers separated him after he killed one young teen male lion in 2008. Photos of Final 16, and lions and Bengal tigers.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author said this photo is in 2013 when Final 16 was 11. 15 .  *This image is copyright of its original author I don't really know much story after left2008 But the new king is the whiHe is the leader since from 2011.  *This image is copyright of its original author
How to change my username???? I've received someone's email about change my username when I checked my email. But I don't know how to do it. It doesn't have any methods to changing my username beside my password and personal things
I can't even look into my email in this website. It keep saying "You do not have permission to access this page." 
Hello @"시베리아호랑이"
Welcome to the forum Its me who asked to change username, If you are finding problem in changing your username, just tell us what username you want to have, I will change it for you. Many thanks for making great post (02-27-2017, 01:13 PM)시베리아호랑이 Wrote: How to change my username???? I've received someone's email about change my username when I checked my email. But I don't know how to do it. It doesn't have any methods to changing my username beside my password and personal things First of all thanks for your great contribution, which had a lot of information on tigers in Korea. Very interesting for our readers. We also appreciate you using your own words, as this is not often seen. Search machines like original posts. Same for us. As for your username. The signs you use, although definitely intriguing, are quite unfamiliar for those not born and raised in Korea. Furthermore, they can't be reproduced by other posters. For this reason, we would recommend another username for now. When reading your name, I noticed a 2. As you're from Korea, I will use K2 in this post. The signs you use no doubt have a distinct meaning. When you describe the meaning, Sanjay will select a name that more or less fits the bill. Welcome to the forum, K2. We're very interested in a follow-up.
The Korean tigers were genetically Amur tigers, and their unique distinct appearance was merely a local adaptation.
If you newly introduce those rewilded Amur tigers into the Korean peninsula, they would again evolve into this way.
More clear picture, from Shenyang.（China）
http://www.gesep.com/news/show_176_277378_19.html  *This image is copyright of its original author
|
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 11 Guest(s) |