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10-31-2014, 10:44 AM( This post was last modified: 10-31-2014, 10:48 AM by GuateGojira )
(10-31-2014, 03:46 AM)'tigerluver' Wrote: Objective statistics approach to the elephant in the room.
*This image is copyright of its original author
This rejection is on the basis of the assumption of even playing field theoretically between the two groups, with all males full grown, of course. The p-value is a bit fragile, find a confounding factor somewhere and the conclusion may flip.
edit by sanjay
Your effort is great, thank you for provide this comparison, but this time, I am not entirely agree. The samples of "modern" tigers are to small (in comparison with the old ones) and Chitwan and Nagarahole specimens, in the image, are not adjusted for stomach content, which inflate the results. On the "old" tigers side, I most remember to all what I have wrote before, there is a great possibility that young tigers were included, together with other emaciated and wounded specimens.
Although I can't denied the fact that most of the male tigers in modern parks are huge, we most remember that those large specimens are just the top of the tiger society, while there are many other young or old specimens that are ignored in modern records for obvious reasons, but that formed part in the old ones. I still think that Bengal tigers have not presented a dramatic variation on its size, only slightly in the body mass with advantage to the modern specimens, caused by factors that Peter have already explained.
Similar case most be presented for the Amur tiger, although in this case, the difference in weight is dramatic, but not in body size. A comparison between the few reliable measurements of old records with the modern ones, show that they were about the same size, with the difference mostly in chest girth and weight, which in this case, favored the old Amur tigers.
I still think that the average weight for male Bengal tigers should be between 210 -220 kg, adjusted for stomach content, with the advantage on the modern side.