The Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)

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Thank you for your response peter. I really appreciate you taking your time to write all that.
after reading your post i have no doubt there were human-tiger conflict occurred back then when tigers were still plentiful as Boomgaard reported. Nowadays, many who lives in the fringe of the forest called this great cat as "mbah", meaning grandfather or the one we must respected. they said Javan tiger is a shy  animal. when accidentaly met people, the stripped cat shows no sign of aggression, they choose to retreat to the jungle right away, which is a great thing as it's a common behavior of normal tigers.

Richardrli Wrote: Wrote:Is there agreement now on whether the Javan tiger was larger than the Sumatran tiger?

About javan tiger size, according to Guate, the only known weights of Javanese tigers are from a wild male of 141 kg and a captive one of 110 kg. i guess thats explain how the figure of 110-140 kg range for male javan tiger coming from.
but what about the upper limit? lets take a look at this male javan tiger one more time.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Mr. Didik Raharyono, Javanese tiger researcher once had the opportunity to interview Mr. Karno, the hunter itself.  according to Mr. Karno, this male was shot in 1957 at rubber plantations near Banyuwangi eastern java. this tiger known as cattle-lifter before, after heard this tiger often seen in the plantation area and makes workers afraid to go to work, he decided to hunt this male down by using his rifle. when asked how large this male was, he said as a hunter he had shot 4 other tigers before but this one is the largest. Driven by his curiosity, Mr. karno put this tiger front paw to his face, and it can covered up his face completely. later he point toward his wall clocks to show how large this tiger paw was. this reminds me of dr. Ragu Chundawat when he decribes the size of madla's front paw, as large as dinner plates he said. ofc im not trying to say this male javan tiger as large as madla, a tiger who bottomed out 250 kg scale, but this male definitely weighing more than just 140kg, imo. later Mr. Didik measured the width of the wall clocks, it was at least 20cm wide.

but is it really possible for javan tiger to have so large front paw? yes it's suprisingly possible. for example this speciment from Garut west java 1920.

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his pront paw definiltely comparable to the faces of those javanesse people.
back to 1957 male tiger, later Mr. Karno also told mr.Didik that one of the  cow's skull was broken due to the imense power this tiger deliver during his attack.

today, most of the reports of Javan tiger sightings describes the striped cat as large as or a bit larger than adult goat, however some reports describes them as large as young cow. regarding sumatran tiger, as they are still exist, i'm sure more reliable weight will come up in the future and we will get a better conclusion sooner or later.

New Photos
now i'd like to share some "new" photos of Javan tigers, please take a good look at them because they're extremely rare
1. Javan tiger shot at Cikepu, Banten, West java, year unknown.

*This image is copyright of its original author

2. Javan Tigress shot with saltwater croc, in Besuki/Situbondo eastern Java 1934.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

with this additional photos, i've come to conclusion of their stipes pattern. very thin and long with a tight distance, especially in the thighs and surrounding areas. Surprisingly the stripe is only concentrated in the back of the body. Upon reaching the abdomen, the stripes seem to disappear unexpectedly. Half the abdomen to the front looks so plain with a minimal number of stripes. however im still curious to know how the javan tiger from central java look like, i wonder if there are any local variation between them. 
one more thing, the new tigers above coming from lowland forest, same as the famous 1938 Hoogerwerf's tiger. while the large 1920 and 1957 tigers are coming from mountain/cold region. probably there's size difference between lowland and highland tigers in java as this also happen to their mainland cousin.

today, lets hope a small remnant population of javan tigers still left in the most remote jungle, perhaps from the hidden lake of Mount Semeru in the background below.

*This image is copyright of its original author

ok i'll leave you with this two great piece of art that will bring us back to 19th-century Java.

De Grote Postweg bij Rejapolah (The Great Postal Route near Rejapolah) Tasikmalaya West Java 1828 by Auguste Antoine Joseph Payen, a Belgian painter who was commissioned by Dutch King William I to create a series of paintings of the landscape of the Dutch East Indies. 

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and this one made by Payen's student himself, a Javanese painter Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman.

*This image is copyright of its original author

this kind of  jungle is so dense, dark and must be very difficult to penetrate. trust me, I had experienced before. yup, suprisingly as the world's most populous island in the world, Java still have untouched rainforest like this although not as large as Sumatra or Borneo. Reply