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

[GuateGojira]

I found this information about the predation of tigers in large ungulated in Thailand.

The first document says that 11 mammalian species were identified from skeletal remains or hair samples and that Sambar (Rusa unicolor), banteng (Bos javanicus), and gaur (Bos gaurus) composed 95.1% of tiger prey biomass. There is more information in the document: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10...2917719000

Now, the other study is still ongoing and there is still no document published yet, but check the abstract:

"The primary prey of tigers across much of Southeast Asia has been depleted, reducing the ability of already limited habitat to support tigers. To better understand the extent to which the tiger’s two largest prey species, gaur (Bos gaurus) and banteng (Bos javanicus), contribute to the tiger’s diet, we estimated the average size of these species killed by tigers. This information is needed to correctly estimate biomass of these species in tiger diet and to devise strategies to increase tiger carrying capacity where habitat is fragmented and limited in west-central Thailand. We used temporally clumped locations of 24 satellite radio-collared tigers to identify their kill sites and obtained mandibles from 82 gaur and 79 banteng. Kills were aged by teeth eruption sequence, sectioning the M1 molar and counting cementum annuli. Of all gaur killed, 45.2% were adults; of all banteng killed 55.7% were adults. The smaller proportion of large gaur killed by tigers may be due to size difference of these species. The average weight of banteng killed was 423.9 kg, which was similar to the 397.9 kg average weight for gaur. The mean weight of both prey species is 3.5 to 4.5 times greater than the predicted 1:1 prey to predator ratio. In the absence of medium-sized prey, killing these larger animals may be especially critical for female tigers when provisioning nearly independent young when male offspring are already larger than the mother. This is the first study to present data on the average weights of gaur and banteng killed in Southeast Asia and these results suggest that these are key prey species to target in tiger prey recovery efforts".

This means that this Thailand tigers, in the absence of medium sized prey, they focus on the largest prey available. Here is the link: https://osf.io/znwvr

It will be interesting to see the finished document. In fact in the FB page of the Thailand tiger project there is several information, picture and videos, about kills made in large banteng, and based in the average weight, it seems that to kill an adult banteng is easier than kill and adult gaur, as the average weight of the prey killed in smaller in the gaur than in the banteng.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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