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05-03-2015, 11:50 AM( This post was last modified: 05-03-2015, 12:12 PM by Amnon242 )
(05-03-2015, 03:35 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: The genetic depression probably affected them more on healthy issues (like resistance to canine distemper or other sickness, I think...) than in morphological issues. There are very large tigers captured by the Siberian Tiger Project and The Amur Tiger Programme that could have skulls of 370-380 cm, the problem is the robusticity and the weight, in that part they are very slender, compared with Bengal tigers.
Other thing is prey numbers, remember that the tiger in Sikhote Alin are normally described as "smaller" than those of the Manchuria region where prey is more abundant. Probably, with better prey base and with no need of new genes, the modern Amur tigers will rise again to they former glory. I hope that, from the bottom of my heart. [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]
I agree. There are captive amur tigers who are very robust (non-obese) and look like bears. So amur tigers dont have to be lean (from genetic reasons). On the other hand there are amur tigers who are lean even in captivity.