Who is the "king" of tigers? - Bengal or Amur

[GuateGojira]

(11-17-2018, 01:37 AM)GreenForest Wrote: I agree with GuateGojira's conclusion that Amur & Bengal are same in Size. When we talk about Amur tigers, we have to take Amur tiger's Captive gene pool into account. Even though current wild amur population is 500+, their effective population is more like 6-12 tigers. They were reduced to very low numbers in 1950s. The genetic diversity is very low. Their maximum body size is very limited. The current wild amur tiger population is similar to Gir Lions, Ranthambore/Sariska tiger population. They lack genetic diversity. That's why It is important for reintroduction of captive amur gene pool into wild to improve gene diversity and to ensure their long term survival and healthy offspring. I would like to see these amur gene pool released into wild.

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa45...697918.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdYpbnFz3tU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOy2v3lJbGk

You have a good point, it is interesting that the old records of body measurements of the Amur tigers are of the same size than the modern specimens, if we asume that were measured in the same way (along the curves with the tape loose in the back). However the few chest girths that I found in the old reliable litterature are larger than any modern specimen in the wild and of the same girth than those of the large Bengal tigers in records. The same happen with the weights, the old Amur tigers weighed the same than the Bengal tigers, while the modern Amur ones weight about the same than the Indochinese tigers.

Regarding the captive Amur tigers, it is interesting to remember that all the pure specimens are decendants from specimens captured before the great holocaust of tiger in the Russian far east, in the time when the genetic variability was high and I dare to say that probably some of those Amur tigers, specially the largest ones, have the "Manchurian genes", which now are sertainly extinct in the wild. So like you said, it will be interesting to see what will happen if those "giant" genes will be inserted in the wild again, but we must remember that also the prey base is important to develop a large size and right now the Amur region had a low prey base. Reply