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The Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
The Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
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The Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
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 (01-16-2019, 07:45 PM)phatio Wrote: Recently i came across an article written by Nico J. van Strien. "The impact of the Krakatoa eruption in 1883 on the population of Rhinoceros sondaicus in Ujung Kulon, with details of rhino observations from 1857 to 1949". PHATIO I decided to copy your long post. This will enable you to scroll up and down while reading. Not ideal, but better than moving from one post to another all the time. As for this post. I selected a few parts of your post and will answer from the top down. 1 - Past Before answering questions, a few words on the past do not seem out of place. You know the Dutch were in Indonesia for a long time. They started in Batavia, now Jakarta. From the beginning, they kept records. Quite a few of these made it to today. Most are kept in Jakarta ('Arsip Nasional'), The Hague ('Algemeen Rijksarchief'), Amsterdam ('Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen') and Leiden ('Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'). If you want to know about tigers and humans in Java, Sumatra and Bali, buy the book of Peter Boomgaard: 'Frontiers of Fear - Tigers and People in the Malay World, 1600-1950'. It was published in 2001:  *This image is copyright of its original author The book is a must for those interested in interactions between humans and tigers in the period 1600-1950. The reason is it is based on records only. Boomgaard is not a biologist, but a historian. In my opinion, his lack of knowledge in the department of biology is an advantage for readers. It took Boomgaard more than ten years to write the book (...). Chances are it won't be repeated. One reason is a part of the collection has been moved. This means someone interested in reading has to travel more often than before. Another is researchers don't have the opportunity to study archives for years anymore. The reason is a new view on science. The new view (time is money and money tops anything) has many consequences. When you want to stand a chance in life, you need to go to a top institute. As it is a costly affair, you need to find a sponsor. Not easy when you're not connected. When you succeed in spite of the odds, you need to graduate as fast as possible. When you want a job at a university, you need to publish. No publications is no job. When you want to specialize, you have to find a sponsor. Firms only invest in research if there's a good chance it will result in specific knowledge. Knowledge that can be applied (turned into money). As money is just about everywhere these days, not a few scientists are heavily involved in business. Archives are a thing of the past, that is. 2 - Tiger abundance and man-eaters on Java Boomgaard says tigers were everywhere when the Dutch entered Java. They troubled the people of Batavia from the start. For this reason, VOC officials organized tiger hunting parties. In 1624, tigers killed about 60 people in Batavia. From 1644 onward, bounties were paid to those who had killed a tiger or leopard. In 1670, tigers were captured in and near Jakarta just about every day. Even in 1748, about 80 big cats (tigers and leopards) were 'destroyed' near Jakarta. In western Java, tigers killed many people as well. Man-eating wasn't a result of a lack of game, but, most probably, opportunism. Near villages, crops were grown. These attracted wild boars. When you say wild boar, you say tiger. Tigers hunt wild boars everywhere in Asia. For this reason, they know wild boars have a great nose. They're also dangerous. Humans are not. Furthermore, they have no sense of smell and easy to catch. Tigers distinguished between Europeans and locals. Europeans, often heavily armed, were not hunted. Locals were. Not adult men, as they often had a dagger, but women and children. Immigrants were also taken, as they often had no experience with tigers. In 1659, a group of Malay woodcutters working in Krawang returned to the Batavia because they had lost 14 men in just two months. Based on what he found, Boomgaard estimated that about 500 people were killed by tigers in the 1820's and about 200 in the 1850's. The sharp decline in the 19th century was a result of deforestation, hunting, less tigers and more people. The growing number of people affected tiger behavior in that they became more active at night. In the period 1820-1860, near Banten, tigers were often seen in broad daylight. In the last decades of the 19th century, they had turned into nocturnal hunters. Although India always topped the table in the department of man-eating in absolutes, Sumatra and Java, considering the number of people on both islands, were relatively much more dangerous: " ... In Java (1870), with a population density ... comparable to that of the British part of India in 1890 and with a much higher rate of population growth, there was a notable shift in the relationship between humans and big cats. Its position c. 1870 in all respects surpassed that of India by an appreciable ... margin. Java had a higher number of deaths by tigers per unit of land and population, higher rations between tigers killed and people killed ..., and higher hunting pressure per unit of land and population. At the end of the century it had moved to a situation in which it scored lower than India ... " (Boomgaard, 2001, pp. 78). Although it topped all tables in relatives in the 1870's, Java scored lower than India in all respects a few decades later. The reason was the response to attacks in Java ('massive retaliation') had been different from the response in India. In 1900, the war between tigers and humans on Java, largely as a result of intense hunting pressure, had been concluded. Tiger 'plagues', however, continued until after World War Two. 3 - Tiger 'plagues' in Java After 1850, the number of people killed by tigers on Java significantly decreased. Every now and then, however, a 'tiger plague' erupted. Most of these had a very local character and a specific cause. In 1855, 147 people were killed in Priangan, twice the annual average for that period. Boomgaard thinks it was a result of a drought. Every time there was a calamity of some sort, the number of deaths sharply increased. As not all bodies were buried, tigers often fed on them. After the supply had dried up, the number of attacks increased. In the period 1875-1880, there were crop failures in Priangan. The result, like in 1855, was a strong increase in the number of man-eaters. The eruption of the Krakatau in 1883 also had a severe effect. It started with the tidal wave. Only few of those who drowned were buried. Not much later, man-eaters appeared in the northwestern part of Java. A year later, rinderpest and malaria resulted in a strong increase in the number of deaths and man-eaters. Although most 'tiger plagues' occurred in densely populated regions in western and central parts of Java, thinly populated regions in the eastern part were hit as well. Residencies affected by 'tiger plagues' at regular intervals were Banten, Priangan, Krawang, Cirebon, Jepara, Pasuruan, Probolinggo and Besuki/Banyuwangi. In general, wild presidencies were less affected by man-eaters than presidencies in which wild country had been cultivated. In wild regions, tigers were able to hunt wild animals as well. In regions affected by cultivation, they were not. Here's a map of Java:  *This image is copyright of its original author The last 'tiger plague' in Java occurred in 1946, when in southern Banyuwangi (southeast Java) 64 people were taken by tigers in 10 months. There's nothing known about the specific circumstances, but just after the Second World War there was a long struggle between the Dutch and those fighting for independence. It resulted in many victims. Boomgaard got to a few interesting conclusions. Here's one of them: " ... Man-eating as a specialized activity ... is probably a modern phenomenon, in Java perhaps not older than the 1870's, where it came into being when the tigers were about to disappear. Earlier sources suggest that the tiger used to be an opportunistic predator who made a 'rational' choice between easy and difficult, unarmed and armed, weak and strong. Modern observers, ..., never knew the tiger before he learned to avoid humans, and conceived the tiger ... as an ahistorical being. Tigers, however, can and do learn. They adapt their behavior to changing circumstances ... " ('Frontiers of fear', 2001, pp. 85-86). In other words: wild tigers in Indonesia were capable of reasoning and adapted their behavior over time. Steven-Hamilton, regarding lions in Kruger, got to similar conclusions. This, to be sure, was in the period that lions were still hunted in Kruger. 4 - The tigress on the banknote The tigress on the Indonesian banknote most probably was an Indian tigress. Here's a photograph from the Dutch version of 'Tiger und Mensch' written by Bengt Berg. It was published during the Second World War (1943) in Amsterdam:  *This image is copyright of its original author And here's the banknote:  *This image is copyright of its original author One more:  *This image is copyright of its original author
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