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

[johnny rex]

(12-23-2018, 12:31 PM)peter Wrote:

(12-22-2018, 11:43 PM)johnny rex Wrote:

(12-17-2018, 02:21 PM)peter Wrote:

(12-17-2018, 01:02 PM)johnny rex Wrote: Still no update from Altai's skull @peter ?

The largest tiger skull V. Mazak ever saw, was in Berlin (Germany). Some time ago, WaveRiders said it had disappeared. He feared it had been sold.

Had Mazak measured the skull personally?

Yes:

" ... The largest tiger skull I ever measured, was that of an old Ussuri male tiger from the northern part of Heilongjiang (northeastern China) that is in the Berlin Museum fur Naturkunde. I think it's interesting to add a number of details:

Greatest total length: 383,0 mm.
Condylobasal length: 342,0 mm.
Basal length: 316,2 mm.
Rostrum width: 113,0 mm.
Zygomatic width: 268,0 mm.
Mastoid width: 148,5 mm.
Mandible length: 260,0 mm.
Pm4: 37,8 mm.
Length of the right upper canine measured 'over curves': 74,5 mm.
Height of the sagittal crest (central part): 27-30 mm.
Height of the sagittal crest (posterior part): 47-50 mm.

At the end of this chapter, I want to add a bit more on the maximum skull length of Ussuri tigers. During his last trip to China in the sixties, J. Bartusek of the Czecho-Slovakian Institute for the Oriënt got an old photograph from an official source showing a very large skull of an old male tiger. It was assumed that the photograph was made ... by a European in northern China in the late thirties of the previous century. Although it has some dark sports typical of old photographs, it is in good condition. The back of the photograph (which measures 65 x 90 mm.) has a few handmade notes in English: Tiger, Chanwangshai; Length 16'', Width, 11 1/4; Height 7 11/16; Jaw (canines) 4 11/16; Mandible, 10 7/8; Canine, 3''; Sagittal crest 2''.

When comparing the measurements ... to those of (other large skulls), ..., this skull, most probably from the Zhangguangcailing Mountains, was that of an exceptionally large male Ussuri tiger. I think the measurements could be reliable, as it is likely that that a very large tiger, like the one ... shot in the upper range of the Sungari river (by V. Jankowski and his team), will produce an exceptional  skull ... " (V. Mazak, 1983, pp. 193-194 - rough translation from the German edition published in 1983).

*This image is copyright of its original author

I wonder if those skulls come from extra-large Ussuri/Amur/Siberian tigers or not. Ussuri tigers seem to have variations on their physical characteristics. Tigers like Bimbo and Marecek from the Oasis of Siberian Tiger have big skull in relation to their body, while others have small skull in relation to their body. Most videos showing Siberian tigers with lions together show that Siberian tigers have bigger head than lions, although I've also seen videos where some lions look like they have longer head than some Siberians. Those tigers from Kaziranga also look like they possess some of the biggest skull of modern big cats unlike some Bengal tigers that have much larger body compared to their skull, but without measurements taken from them we can only make guesstimations. Reply