Amur Tigers

[Apex Titan]

(08-12-2023, 03:32 AM)Pckts Wrote:

(08-12-2023, 02:42 AM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(08-11-2023, 07:47 PM)Pckts Wrote: What are the ecological differences between the khabarovsk and Primorye that would contribute to one having smaller or larger cats?

Been honest, I was checking my old data and I could not found any document with concrete evidence if there is a significant difference or not. However, what we can see is that Amur tiger distribution is more abundant in Primorye than in Khabarovsk, based in the map of Mazák (2013) where it shows historic sigths, and if we make a quick view on Heptner & Sludskii (1992) we can see that the Khabarovsk region is the first one where the Amur tigers were extinct and there is no speciall reason why, as the tigers where hunted equaly in the entire area. I found a very old document of 1996 where the recovery of Amur tiger started and the population in Khabarovsk was always the smaller. So, it seems that the population of tigers in that area was not as abundant as in Primorye,

What we can hypotesize, with no hard evidence, is that maybe the prey population in that area was not as good as Primorye, and taking in count that the main population of the Amur tiger was in the Sikhote Alin area and the Manchuria area, it make sense that this regions had the best prey base for the northern tiger.

I have not investigate the newest report of the Amur tiger population, but as far I remember the specimens are focused, again, between Sikhote Alin and Manchuria, trough the Ussuri region.

Finally, estimations of body size based in pictures are not accurate, specially with the Amur tigers and they big fur coat, also old records do not mention any big tiger in that area (Khabarovsk), so any claim that tigers are bigger in that area is irrelevant.

Generally speaking, population density is a good gauge on specimen health barring outside factors like human interference.

The real average weight of modern Amur tigers is a complex topic, we simply do not know the real average weight. Large male tigers, for some reason, are seen more often in the Khabarovsk region than in Primorye.

The biggest male tiger in Russia, in recent years, was from the Khabarovsk territory. I'm talking about the huge male tiger "The Beast" aka the "monster" tiger from the Anyuisky National Park. Even biologists were in awe of his massive size. His size (referring to body length, bipedal height) slightly surpassed even a huge male brown bear's. There have been no tigers in Primorye, in recent years that have matched the sheer size of "the Beast" tiger.

And the "Beast" heel width consistently measured 13.5 cm in both winter and summer. Which completely excludes the possibility of the snow giving inaccurate heel width size.

Add to this fact, most of the young tigers in the Anyuisky National Park are direct descendants of the "Beast", so he has passed on his giant genes to many tigers there. There are also other huge male tigers with similar heel width sizes to the "Beast" that have also been traced in the Anyuisky National Park. None of these enormous tigers have been captured or weighed.

Biologist Alexander Batalov has also traced some very large male tigers in the Durminskoye forest, which is in the Khabarovsk region. 

Last year I read a Russian article on Amur tigers which stated that the largest Amur tigers in Russia are found in the Khabarovsk region. Unfortunately I forgot the title of the article, if I find it again, I'll post it.

Even if Primorye has the better prey density and higher population of tigers, for some reason, the largest male tigers (referring to camera trap photos, tree markings & paw sizes) are more often seen in the Khabarovsk region.

To get a more accurate estimate on the average size/weight of modern Amur tigers, mature adult male tigers from the Khabarovsk region must also be weighed. We cannot exclude a whole other region, especially where huge male tigers are seen.

The 'Siberian Tiger Project' biologists did a good job studying tigers from the Primorye region, but they didn't study nor capture and weigh ANY tigers from the Khabarovsk region.

From what I've seen and read, the largest Amur tigers today are from Northeast China and the Khabarovsk region in Russia. Reply