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

[peter]

UPDATE ON THE DUTCH AMUR TIGERS IN KAZACHSTAN

Those interested in tigers no doubt heard or read about the intention to reintroduce Amur tigers in Kazachstan some time ago. The intention resulted in a decision to give it a try. After a lot of preparations, a series of interesting articles (some of which were discussed in this thread) and a long pause, two captive Amur tigers from a new zoo located in the northwestern top of the Province of Noord-Holland (in the northwestern part of the Netherlands) were flown to Kazachstan not so long ago. 

The new zoo, 'Hoenderdaell', is a nice one. It has quite a number of animals seldom seen in zoos. Some of the big cats are from the rescue center I often visited in the period 1990-2010. That facility, back then not open to the public, changed hands some years ago. The former director called to inform me. Most unfortunately, I never heard from him again.   

Coincidence has it I visited the new zoo about a year ago with my brother, sister and her daughter. On a nice summer day, we took our time to admire quite a few animals not often seen in zoos and the restaurant wasn't too bad as well.

I wrote a post about the brown bears and the Amur tigers I saw. That is to say, I saw the bears from a few yards. The retreat of the Amur tigers, however, was covered with a lot of bushes and trees. I only saw the female walking on what seemed to be a well-used trail. Although the trail was all but invisible, I did, after a few minutes, see she was quite long and tall. One of the keepers I contacted turned out to be a student. He kept track of everything and knew a lot about the big cats and the bears. 

The brown bears seemed as healthy as they get. The male in particular was an impressive animal. Based on the size of the big brown bear I saw in the rescue facility I visited quite some years ago (see above), my guess was he easily exceeded 300 kg (662 pounds). The old bear I saw in the rescue facility many years ago, most probably, was well over that mark. His exact weight was unknown, but the vet who sedated him assumed he was about 300 kg or a bit over. That guesstimate didn't cover it. When about to enter the room where he had been sedated with my tape and notebook, I was pushed aside by those leaving the room in a hurry. They told me the bear had quickly recovered from the drug and had broken a few ropes (...).  

Anyhow. The male brown bear in 'Hoenderdaell' was one of the largest I saw. Apart from that, he was well built. After watching the mightby bear from a few yards for a couple of minutes, my brother started a discussion about Amur tigers and brown bears: " .. . So you're saying Amur tigers hunt male brown bears in the Russian Far East ... "? Before i was able to answer, a few visitors decided to enter the debate. It was quickly concluded even a decent male Amur tiger trying had to be very lucky to even get to an ambulance. Apex wasn't there, of course, but the student I referred to earlier (see above) seemed to have a somewhat different opinion. He, however, decided for a smile and told me how to contact him when the project he was working on had been finished.              

The Dutch Amur tigers, to return to the title of the post, got a few articles before disappearing into what I expected to be a long silence. But I was wrong. When it was all quiet on the eastern front, my sister sent me a ling to an article she found in a local newspaper. It's, of course, in Dutch:  

https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/342970/ti...kazachstan

I'm not saying it's a very informative article, but it's something and it has a video (00:58) enabling you to see the female ('Boghada') and the male ('Kuma') entering their new home for the first time. As far as i know, the intention is to 'rewild' their cubs. If there will be cubs, of course (both tigers are well past their prime). 

The female is long, tall and in good health. I didn't see the male, but the student did. He told me the male is a bit bigger. How do they compare to their wild relatives? Difficult to say, but the videos and photographs I saw suggest today's wild Amur tigers seem to be a bit more stocky than their captive relatives. Remember I'm referring to healthy adult tigers with a territory. This addition is important, as not a few of those leaving their mother at 18-22 months never reach adulthood. Life in the Russian Far East is anything but easy.

ABOUT THE SERIES OF APEX 

Apex, in his impressive series about (the outcome of) confrontations between male Amur tigers and male Ussuri brown bears, concluded male tigers stand the best chance. Most Russian biologists seem to agree. But opinions differ and so do individuals, conditions and circumstances. 

Kostoglod wrote about a large male brown bear following a tiger for 14 km. The tiger, judging from the heel width of the print (10,5 cm), most probably was a male. He 'escaped', but Apex said there is no reason to assume the tiger was threatened by the bear. Male brown bears, after all, often follow tigers to scavenge their kills. Could be, but Kostoglod (and other biologists) found reliable evidence of Amur tigers killed by bears (in the period before the STP started). He assumed most of them had been struggling with health problems and added they, because of these problems, might have developed into troubleshooters. Man-eaters are few and far between in the Russian Far East, but even today not a few tigers enter villages in order to hunt dogs. There are many reliable stories about youngsters (tigers ranging between 2-5 years of age), old tigers and incapacitated adults entering villages in times of need. Most are arrested and 'rehabilitated', but most is not all. More tigers can result in more problems in a long and harsh winter and that's still without an outbreak of a disease affecting the animals they hunt. 

ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CAPTIVE AND WILD AMUR TIGERS

A few years ago, I invested quite a bit of time in reading (scientific and newspaper) articles in order to find (unknown, but reliable) information about the length and weight of captive Amur tigers. Adult males, including a small number of young adults, averaged 220-225 kg (486-497 pounds) and 9.11 (302-303 cm) in total length measured in a straight line ('between pegs'), whereas adult females averaged 135-140 kg (298-310 pounds). The male sample is reliable (n=61), but the female sample is a bit wanting (n=15). 

The question is how wild Amur tigers compare to their captive relatives in this respect. The answer is we don't know. The table published in 2005 (referring to tigers captured in the period 1992-2004 in or close to the Sichote-Alin Biosphere Reserve) said (a limited number of young adult and adult) males averaged 176,4 kg (389 pounds), whereas females averaged 117,9 kg (260 pounds). More recent data (refering to the period 2005-2024) suggests the average today could be closer to 420 pounds (190 kg) for males and 265 pounds (120 kg) for females. But a very experienced Russian biologist who assisted in capturing quite a number of wild tigers recently said adult males average 486-535 pounds (220-240 kg) and added the upper limit is over 618 pounds (280 kg). He could be right, as Feng Limin said a male of 597 pounds (270 kg) had been captured in northeastern China some years ago. All in all, the conclusion is adult males captured in the period 1992-2024 ranged between 312-597 pounds (141-270 kg). The average is anyone's guess, but what I read suggests an adult male of 442 pounds (200 kg) is considered as large by most Russian biologists. 

All in all, one could conclude captive and wild males more or less compare for range (referring to weight). Captive males, however, are heavier. A bit strange, as it's the other way around in most other tiger subspecies. A result of the harsh conditions in the Russian Far East? The population bottleneck in the 20th century? A lack of reliable data? We don't know. 

ABOUT TIGERS AND BEARS IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Recent information (referring to the series of Apex) suggests an adult male Amur tiger of average size (353-442 pounds or 160-200 kg) in good condition is able to confront an adult male brown bear. Not a few Russian biologists, including Aramilev, think they've got the best chance in a fight. But opinions differ. In the end, as always, it depends on the individual, the conditions, the circumstances and the motivation of the individuals involved. 

Both 'Ochkarik' and 'Odyr', although average in size, were able to kill an adult male brown bear. In February of this year, male tiger 'Odyr' confronted a hibernating male brown bear. In the lines notes of the video, Yuri Kya, heavily critized because of his comments about the fight between the male brown bear killed by tiger 'odyr' in November 2022, said the size of the hibernating bear could have made a difference. Meaning it was the reason the bear wasn't attacked by 'Odyr'. Maybe, but the bear left to hibernate elsewhere it's likely this was the intention of 'Odyr'. Judging from what we know, one could conclude tiger 'Odyr' isn't too keen on male brown bears in his territory. I don't doubt there are more examples, but it also is a fact some of the male tigers found dead in the last decades of the 20th century had been wounded in a fight with a brown bear (referring to a table discussed in this post some years ago). That's still without the male tigers killed in 1913 and 1972. 

APEX      

Although we agree in most respects regarding (the outcome of encounters between) male Amur tigers and male Ussuri brown bears, we disagree in that I doubt black and white are the only colours. I agree with your conclusion about the (most likely) outcome of an encounter between a bear-experienced territorial male tiger and an adult male Ussuri brown bear, but there are many tigers and bears and in the end it always is about individuality and motivation. 

Tigers, in contrast to bears, learned about confrontations and how to quickly overcome a struggling animal at a very young age. They know how to use their teeth and claws. In this department, they are unmatched. There is, on the other hand, some evidence size could be more important than you assume. There is enough evidence to conclude an experienced tiger is able to kill a larger bear, but there's a limit. In a summary on the former AVA I posted a long time ago, I said bears exceeding 650 pounds could be out of the predatory reach of even an experienced tiger. Later, after witnessing the interaction between a number of captive Amur tigers and a big male brown bear, I changed my mind to a degree. But it's more than likely a tiger would need a lot of time to overcome a bear exceeding 800 pounds. I'm not saying a tiger would exhaust himself, but it is a fact a bear is able to take a lot more damage in a long struggle. Not true for a tiger. Even a relatively minor injury could have an effect. Example.  

Here's tiger 'Snarl' (Kanha, January 1977) after a fight with tiger 'Arjuna':  

*This image is copyright of its original author

 

And this is his opponent 'Arjuna':

*This image is copyright of its original author

   
Tiger 'Arjuna', past his prime when he fought 'Snarl', was able to keep his sambar, but he was injured. The flap of skin hanging in front of one of his eyes impaired his vision and his ability to hunt. Not long after this photograph was taken, they found him dead. His opponent, by the way, later met his match in an old warrior. The photographs and the story are from 'Through the tiger's eyes' (Stanley Breeden & Belinda Wright, 1996).  

PROPOSAL 
       
For most of us, it's difficult to understand why an experienced big cat like a tiger is able to overcome an opponent like a large brown bear. For this reason, I don't think it would be superfluous to extent a bit on the difference between fighters and non-fighters (referring to humans) and the impact of size, speed and aggression in what seems to be a more or less fair fight. I'm not suggesting to post videos of confrontations between experienced (human) critters (doesn't fit the thread), but I don't doubt there's a bit more about the issues discussed in this thread in books written by those who know a bit more about the qualities of apex predators. 

One could start with the difference between a wild adult big cat and his captive relative. They are immense, especially when the big cat is an apex predator. Most people do not seem to understand what it takes to get there. John Vaillant could be a good idea, but there are more writers who saw things most of us will never see. See what you can do. 

And thanks for the series on tigers and bears. Good sources, reliable links, interesting and informative. Reply