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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
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 (12-25-2018, 07:22 AM)Wolverine Wrote: DHOLE (CUON ALPINUS) AS PART OF AMUR TIGER'S FAUNA COMPLEX Interesting post, Wolverine. This thread has some info on the Indian red dog, but not much on its relative in Manchuria and the Russian Far East. When the forum had just started, however, I posted on a book I found somewhere in Germany. As far as I know, the book was only published in Germany. Chances are, therefore, that most never heard about it. In this post, I'll discuss the book once again. The post includes a number of scans. As the book was written by a German, you need to use the translator. I'll add a few remarks before every scan to help out. 'ROTE WOLFE, WEISSE TIGER' (Red wolves, white tigers) The complete title is 'Rote Wölfe, weiße Tiger - Eine Jägerfahrt durch Schilfmeer und Taiga des fernen Asiens'. It was published in 1952 by the Bonner Buchgemeinde (special publication). The writer, Joseph M. Velter, dedicated the book to the man who was his companion on his travels in Siberia: " ... Meinem Freund und Gefährten Friedrich Wilhelm von Hornberg - zur Erinnerung an fünf siberische Jahre ... ". a - About Joseph M. Velter and his companions Velter, a German adventurer and hunter, traveled with a man called Imquist. Although his family in Canada was very well off, he, like Velter, preferred the outdoors. Three years before they entered Sichote-Alin, Velter and Imquist had found a man in a bad condition somewhere in a forest near the Mongolian border. After he had recovered, Semjon Pawlowitsch Pjetroff, a sturdy Russian with two right hands, never left them. They later learned he had deserted the Imperial Russian Army. Semjon was a crack shot. For those who know about hunting. Velter and Imquist had two five-shot Mannlicher rifles, a Mauser rifle and just under 500 bullits. My guess is they visited Sichote-Alin somewhere in the twenties or, more likely, the thirties of the last century. The trip lasted for about a year. b - The book Velter's book compares to the books of Arseniev, Corbett and Anderson in that it is well-written and interesting from start to finish. It oozes the authenticity typical for those who saw things most others did not. For those not at home in the natural world, the book could seem a bit over the top at times. It isn't. In wild regions, reality is very different from what we consider to be real. If you would try to describe the unknown world you visited, chances are most readers would have a few doubts at times. This could be the reason that people like Arseniev, Corbett, Anderson and Velter decided to focus on accurate descriptions. Velter, like the others mentioned above, takes the reader to an unknown and secretive world. In his day, all continents but Europe and Australia still had regions considered as wild at heart. Sichote-Alin was all but unknown in the western hemisphere. According to Velter, it, apart from a few thousand hunters and trappers in summer, was completely empty and covered with endless, dark forests. If you want to know more about the book, read posts 134 and 135 of this thread. c - Grey and red wolves In your post, Wolverine, you said Amur tigers and grey wolves don't mix. What is known, supports this view. Sysoev '('Amba') wrote about a male tiger hunting wolves. Miquelle also wrote about tigers and wolves. He, like others, concluded tigers seem to push wolves out. This was the main argument their used to convince hunters in Sichote-Alin to protect tigers. You also wrote dholes disappeared when grey wolves invaded Sichote-Alin, suggesting grey wolves push red dogs out. I didn't read anything about grey wolves or dholes Arseniev's book ('Dersu the Trapper'), but Velter's book has a bit more on wolves. Velter visited Lake Shanka and the south-central part of Sichote-Alin in the twenties or thirties of the last century. The region dominated by Lake Shanka had wolves. Same for the central, heavily forested, parts of Primorye. Velter and his companions shot and trapped a number of wolves. One of the wolves shot had a red ground colour. At first, Velter thought the colour was a result of individual variation. He later learned that people in the Russian Far East distinguished between grey and red wolves. Many considered red 'wolves' as a distinct species. They lived in large packs and were as wild as their grey relatives:  *This image is copyright of its original author When Velter was hunting alone, he shot what he thought was a deer or a wild boar. When he saw he had killed a red wolf, he heard other wolves howling. As he felt threatened, he shot again. He missed and decided to run. After some time, he noticed the pack was following him. He decided to climb a tree. Although he thought they were going to starve him, they left next morning:  *This image is copyright of its original author d - Red wolves or dholes The question is if the red 'wolves' could have been dholes. Velter doesn't offer enough to get to a conclusion, but he did say red wolves were considered as a different species in the Russian Far East. He also said they, like grey wolves, lived in large packs and that they were considered as 'wild'. His night in a tree suggests they didn't hesitate to follow humans. As to the relation between tigers, grey wolves and red wolves. According to Velter, grey and red wolves more or less co-existed in the same region. This means the idea of the scientists you referred to has to be rejected. Red wolves, however, did seem to live closer to tigers. One reason is they, like tigers, seemed to prefer forests over more open landscapes. e - Tigers Velter and his companions spent the winter in a deserted hut in Primorye. In spring, they briefly considered capturing a tiger cub. They decided against it, as they didn't want to face an angry tigress. The only young tiger Velter saw was in a depot of a trading frim ('Kunz & Albers') Vladivostok some months later. The cub was shipped to the Natural History Museum of Vienna (Austria). Not long after, they tried to hunt an isjubr (deer). When lying in ambush, they saw a nice buck. Hoping he would come their way, they suddenly heard another buck calling. The buck they saw accepted the challenge and turned their way. Waiting for the right moment to shoot, Velter suddenly noticed that the 'challenger' was a tiger hidden in the undergrowth only fifteen yards away (...). They later learned that old male tigers who had lost their ability to outrush a deer, often used this trick to lure bucks. It didn't work that time. The buck became aware of the tiger and ran, leaving the tiger empty-handed. The tiger left without a sound. As he had been aware of them, they feared an ambush. Velter and his companions decided to fire their rifles in the air to scare the tiger. It had an effect, as the tiger left. According to Velter, the outcome of the chance meeting could have been different. In Nikolsk-Ussurisk, tigers had killed soldiers and people employed by the railroad company quite often. Only few hunted tigers, as they were much feared. The natives, although very able hunters, never hunted tigers. f - Two photographs of Y. Saburo of tiger cub hunters in Romanovka village In the thirties of the last century, Japan invaded China (including Manchuria). A Japanese scientist (Yamazue Saburo) made a few photographs of tiger cubs caught in the period 1938-1941. I selected two. Both were taken in Romanovka village. You can find them on the internet (including a description). In spite of their age, they're in excellent condition. Unique photographs:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
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