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The Sundarban Tiger

United States Pckts Offline
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( This post was last modified: 05-11-2018, 09:35 PM by Rishi )

Soumyajit Nandy
The Philosopher!

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( This post was last modified: 05-24-2018, 05:44 PM by Rishi )

Copied from Tiger Extinction thread.


(05-08-2018, 08:50 AM)Greatearth Wrote: I spoke with one conservationists in Bangladesh. He thinks male tigers in Sunderban are big as male tiger in mainland India and Nepal. The size records of the Sunderban tigers are all sick and old tigers. He said it very difficult to capture alive and measure healthy tigers due to harsh environments.
LOL. No!

The smallest recorded weights for Bengal tigers are from Sundarban (Bangladesh & India). Because Bangladesh doesn't have tigers left anywhere other than Sundarbans, they're as insecure with the Sundarban's tigers' size as they are proud of its alleged ferocity!
(I'm Bengali, we share the language & interact a lot on social media)

Researchers are people too... Nobody likes to say "Our tigers are smallest in the world".

Has he even seen Central Indian or Terai tigers, let alone measured?

Even severely sick & dying mainland specimens have almost never been weighed as low as 150kg (males). Sundarban males can drop below 100kg in bad condition. Check this out #115.

Only thing he's right about is that they're not as small as they're said to be.
Healthy females are about 100kg (from documentary).



(05-09-2018, 08:29 AM)Greatearth Wrote: Rishi
Yes, he said he always go visit Corbett, Tadoba, and other national parks to see tigers. He is definitely sure male tigers in Sundarbans could grow the same size as male tigers in mainland Indian. Not just him, I've seen many photographers from Bangladesh are arguing against Indian from other states over Sundarbans tiger's size.
That's the catch! 
I felt similarly when i saw the male tiger at Jharkhali TRC. It was nearly the size of an average sized mainlanders. (Forgot to ask if they had its weight Crying )

I couldn't come up with any explanation for them being 60% in weight compared to ones rescued/captured on mainland...
They're not equal, definitely smaller & skinnier, but not that much!

The old cages of Kolkata Zoo allowed close comparison.
  1. Female
  2. Mediocre male
  3. Sundarban male ex-maneater new
  4. Sundarban male ex-maneater old (I think its dead now)













I asked around when i went to Sundarbans last December & 150kg is considered a pretty big tiger! Here's the official figures, i'm quoting myself from Sundarban Mini-trip:
Quote:Currently there's only one tiger there. A 11-year-old male, who other than being a man-eater had eye injury than turned it blind & wasn't released.

As i walked to the other side, that's when i saw him... He. Was. HUGE.
(I apologise on behalf of my camera.)

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Head, neak, shoulder, arms, chest-girth.. he had it all.

Here's a better shot of him beside the concrete base.

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Here's me beside the outer one... I'm 5'8".

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I guess whatever weight difference Sundarban tigers have with their mainland cousins is probably due to them being skinny, because the dimensions didn't look that different.

The prey base is very likely inadequate from what i felt. It's definitely a tough life there that the rhinos & water buffalos weren't tough enough for.
Maybe that's the reason they aren't picky about what they eat.. monkeys, young crocs, crabs, tortoise & even fish that get trapped on mudflats as the tides recede.

There was a info placard by the FD beside the enclosures. It had the size/weight data patched up & edited, probably the original one showed a lousy off-the-internet value of 250kg.
So, i took a photo...

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So i would refrain from commenting on it. I really don't know why, probably nobody does for sure!

You should get him on Wildfact...



(05-10-2018, 03:12 AM)Greatearth Wrote: Rishi
I am not sure what he do, but I know he goes to national parks to see wild tigers including elusive Sundarban tigers. He said he as not found any size differences between mainland India and Sundarban after seeing many tigers. He probably never measured any tiger.
He would be very angry if he sees these discussion that we are concluding Sundarban tigers are smaller than other Bengal tigers.

As i told you before, i've felt the same. But "the feels" aren't a valid way of measuring (unless you're adding tea-leaves to water)!

Those videos i posted aren't mine... But i've stood there. Classes were cancelled one day & i went there from college. I had my instruments with me & i measured the loops of the chain link they use.

One of the Royal Bengals, i don't know which one, were pacing along like in the video & i checked upto where is spine was reaching. From that makeshift scale, i calculated his spine height to be ~97cm, which is ok-ish.

Watch this video till the end...
He looks like a regular Sundarban male from camera-trap images.




BTW, noone's concluding anything. We're just discussing the available data!
That's why i asked you to invite him here. It'd be good to hear his views on the matter.
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New video! Pretty huge male!

I think this is from the Ajmalmari island, mid-2017.
The men were right above him during the release...



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( This post was last modified: 06-01-2018, 04:06 PM by Rishi )

Text & Images by the legend Soumyajit Nandy (from multiple Facebook posts):

May 2018

Though I have seen swamp tigers sitting like this many times, this is the first time I saw it sitting like this in the water. This was towards the starting of our epic sighting where we experienced the tussle between two females.
Most of the drama happened amidst heavy rains.

*This image is copyright of its original author

When the mangrove turns into a real-estate battlefield!

As most of the tussle happened inside the thickets, we could hardly capture any frames of that. However, there are a few images where both the tigresses can be seen together. 
In this frame, the younger one has been pushed down to the water edge and while she tries to get back, the other tigress emerges out to push her back again.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The beauty of a Sundarban tiger is in its dirtiness. This young female got roughed up by an older one who right now is the mother of a 15+ month old cub.
As this female rolled down the slopes after getting thrashed by the other one, mud was all over her body. However, the constant rain managed to wash some off, but some remained.

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There is tasty food on the boat!
The older tigress crossing a narrow canal while chasing away another one.

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( This post was last modified: 06-03-2018, 05:55 AM by Rage2277 )


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male from sunderban with kill
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sunderban tigress may 2018
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 sunderban male Niladri Kundu‎ 
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(06-01-2018, 04:02 PM)Rishi Wrote: Text & Images by the legend Soumyajit Nandy (from multiple Facebook posts):

May 2018

Though I have seen swamp tigers sitting like this many times, this is the first time I saw it sitting like this in the water. This was towards the starting of our epic sighting where we experienced the tussle between two females.
Most of the drama happened amidst heavy rains.

*This image is copyright of its original author

When the mangrove turns into a real-estate battlefield!

As most of the tussle happened inside the thickets, we could hardly capture any frames of that. However, there are a few images where both the tigresses can be seen together. 
In this frame, the younger one has been pushed down to the water edge and while she tries to get back, the other tigress emerges out to push her back again.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The beauty of a Sundarban tiger is in its dirtiness. This young female got roughed up by an older one who right now is the mother of a 15+ month old cub.
As this female rolled down the slopes after getting thrashed by the other one, mud was all over her body. However, the constant rain managed to wash some off, but some remained.

*This image is copyright of its original author

There is tasty food on the boat!
The older tigress crossing a narrow canal while chasing away another one.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Full account. ©Krishnendu Mukherjee

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 Soumyajit Nandy‎ Crusader of Tomorrow!

It is always nice to see a healthy sub-adult individual in these mangrove forests. This image proves that the forest is well protected with sufficient prey base where these young guys will rule in future.

August 2018
 — at Sundarban - The Mysterious Mangroves.
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 Soumyajit Nandy‎ The Warrior!
Dominant Male 
August 2017
 — at Sundarban - The Mysterious Mangroves.
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 Soumyajit Nandy Though he is still a sub-adult, we didn't see any lack of confidence in him. In fact, it was such that he didn't even bother about the presence of 3 boats full of tourists and came out in open to cross the narrow canal. He is going to be another superhero of this mangrove forest in future.

August 2018
 — at Sundarban - The Mysterious Mangroves.
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Tigers Of Goran Forest - Sundarbans. Upamanyu Roy
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( This post was last modified: 09-09-2018, 11:02 AM by Rishi )

Tiger census to resume in mangroves post monsoon


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CALCUTTA: Five hundred pairs of all-weather night-vision cameras will be installed across the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve and South 24-Parganas division for the second round of tiger census in the mangroves post monsoon.

The cameras will be installed in the western part of the national park and Sajnekhali range in the Sunderban Tiger Reserve and Matla, Raidighi and Ramganga ranges in the South 24- Parganas division after Puja.

"We are in the process of procuring 200 more pairs of cameras. Altogether, 500 pairs would be put to use. The second phase will cover a larger area than the first one," said Nilanjan Mallick, the field director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve and the nodal officer for the tiger count in the Sunderbans.


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Three hundred pairs of cameras - 180 in the eastern part of the national park and 120 in the Basirhat range - had been installed in February in two pockets of the tiger reserve for the pre-monsoon census. The cameras were retrieved by April.

Tigers had been captured on camera in more than 100 grids in the two pockets in the first phase, triggering hopes that the big cat count would go up in the census. Several of the pictures show cubs alongside adults, a forest official said.
"But these are raw findings. It is possible that a single tiger has been clicked multiple times. The findings from these images will have to be combined with statistical analysis to reach any conclusion about the numbers," Mallick said.

A tiger needs to be clicked from both flanks at the same time for a picture to be fit for analysis, the reason why cameras are placed in pairs. The Cuddeback all-weather night-vision digital cameras have motion detectors. Animal movements activate motion sensors in the cameras, to take photographs.


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More than 100 field workers are scouting the forests to find strategic locations in grids where the cameras would be installed. The forests are being divided into grids of 2sqkm each.
The cameras will be in place for over three months. By March, the images and the reports will be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

The exercise is part of the national tiger census 2018.
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Viky Chillz‎ - 5️⃣0️⃣ yes i m happy to share my 50th invidual tiger from wild in 26months Well!! Probably the toughest place in India to spot and shoot tigers.Its a remarkable biosphere reserve.It is very difficult to spot tigers here.The thought of taking decent photographs will vanish from your mind.The forest here is absolutely different from any another tiger park in India.Here, there are hardly any alarm calls of deers or monkeys.There is hardly any visibility in the thick undergrowth where this magnificent creature resides.There are no sweet waterholes where you know it might come down to drink water.At times, in the other parks patrolling officers or forest outskirt dwellers might inform you about the tiger or a possible kill made by the predator. Most importantly you enter inside the forest and have control over your vehicle.Here it’s a different ball game altogether. In short there are hardly any tell-tale signs of a tiger sighting.One needs to experience it to believe whatever is just mentioned above.It ultimately boils down to pug marks,assumptions,experience ( of good guides ) and plenty of good luck.

Tigress,Sunderban Biosphere Reserve,September 2018
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 Sarbajit Ghosh‎ - King of Sundari Sundarban ......
Sundarban tiger reserve,W.B ......
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