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

[peter]

(06-26-2018, 11:25 PM)johnny rex Wrote: Some pictures of Altai the tiger.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Tiger 'Altai' was from Howlett (UK). He was born on August 8, 2008. Tigress 'Hanya', a few years older, was from France. It seems they got along from the start. After the unfortunate incident in August 2012, the zoo director was targeted by many (referring to social media).

Male tigers are able to reproduce from age 3 or thereabout. Although adult in this respect, they're still young adults at that age. Adulthood is reached between 5-6 years of age. Young adults can have a large skull, but skulls of older animals usually are (relatively) longer, wider and heavier. The difference between age groups is significant (at the level of averages).

During adulthood, male tigers in particular keep on growing. The famous Sauraha tiger (Royal Chitwan, Nepal) gained 8 cm. as an adult. The first time he was weighed, he bottomed a 500-pound scale. The second time, he bottomed a 600-pound scale.

Based on what I saw in captive male Amur tigers, my guess is that 'Altai' still had some growing to do. In spite of that, he already was a large and robust animal at age 4. Here's a few more pictures:

*This image is copyright of its original author

   

*This image is copyright of its original author

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