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02-08-2015, 08:58 AM( This post was last modified: 02-08-2015, 09:00 AM by GuateGojira )
Waveriders,
You are deeply incorrect. Dr Sunquist measured its tigers in straight line, not along the curves like the old hunters done. Check this out:
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Confirmed, TWICE, to different posters, by Dr Sunquist himself.
Dr Karanth description of tigers "along curves" is incorrect, he misinterpreted the words, just because he want to avoid any comparison with the old "between pegs" method, that according with him was unreliable, but also it was unreliable the method "Over curves".
At the end, the tigers of Nepal and Nagarahole were measured in straight line, to avoid the curves of the body.
On the weight issue, you are speculating too much now. The basic premise that some stomach content most be included in any animal is correct, but to say that the Sauraha male weighed only 210 kg or less is rubbish. That male weighed over 272 kg and don't ate more than 19 kg in any meal. Other thing, the kills were surely not killed just immediately after they were left in the field, which was in the afternoon and evening, which means that the period between the kill of the bait and the capture was less than 10 hours (they were revisited before the 6:00 am), which means that the tigers, all of them, had not enough time to eat as much as 15 kg, if they were lucky. The assumption that the tigers in Nepal were "gorged" is fully incorrect, if you read the document of Sunquist (1981) he clearly explained that all the tigers were disturbed at kills and after they were captured, they returned to eat more, which also means that they have not full they bellies. Finally, Dr Sunquist, also in an email, explained that NO tiger was gorged, check this out:
*This image is copyright of its original author
So, this destroy any incorrect idea of Nepaleses tigers with 30 kg in they bellies, which is simply against all the evidence. Nepalese tigers eat between 14-19 kg in 24 hours when they are undisturbed, and less in disturbed baits (the record of 35 kg for a male seems dubious, as in the original source, it looks more like a random event, not a measured data). A deep read of documents most be a rule before to make such wild guesses.