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

[peter]

SUNDERBAN TIGERS

What I have on greatest total skull length, skull width, body mass and total length strongly suggests that Sunderban tigers are smaller than a typical representative of Panthera tigris tigris. The videos posted suggest they're not as robust. Same for large individuals.

However. The difference could be a bit less outspoken than we assume, as the number of measurements is limited. We also have to remember that quite a few of the tigers weighed and measured operated in the 'problem' department. In the Russian Far East, the difference between 'problem animals' and others was pronounced.

A century ago or so, tigers could move freely between Bengal and the Sunderbans. Exchange of genes, that is. Today, that's all but impossible. We know that isolation often quickly results in a smaller and more uniform size and so far we've not been disappointed.  

Some time ago, I read this book:

*This image is copyright of its original author

It was published in 1981, when the writer had retired. The photograph below is from the book. One of the three heads in the photograph is from a tiger shot in the Sunderbans. The writer is sitting on the right:   

*This image is copyright of its original author

   

The tigers in the photograph below were shot over a century ago. They're not small, but lack robustness:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Here's a scan of a letter published in the JBJHS. It's about a male tiger shot in December 1934 in the Sunderbans. He had a short, but heavy barrel-shaped body and was described as 'typical' for the region:

*This image is copyright of its original author

I don't doubt that some adult males can reach 350 pounds or a bit over today, but individuals well exceeding that mark most probably are few and far between. Population size has an effect on average size and individual variation, but isolation in particular is a killer.

We also have to remember that the conditions in the Sunderbans (a lot of water, regular floods, few large prey animals, quite a few 'problem animals' and a lot of poachers, especially in Bangla Desh) are unfavourable. Tigers of this size have never been seen in the Sunderbans:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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