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Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers
Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers
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Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers
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Tiger is back home
On October 30, Primorsky Province Hunting Department with the support of the Amur Tiger Center and WWF released an adult Amur tiger back into the wild with a fitted radio collar. Early in the morning of October 30, a tiger caught and placed in the rehab center four days previously*, was sedated, put into a transportation cage, and three hours later released in the Tigrovoye Hunting Lease on the border with Ussuriisky Nature Reserve.
“The decision on the place of the tiger release was made jointly by nature conservation organizations. To choose this place correctly, several factors were considered like the availability of enough wild ungulates to feed on, the farness from the human settlements, and the lack of people on the moment of its release. So, we have picked the Tigrovoye Hunting Lease as a place for the tiger release. We are keen to know whether the tiger will try to come back to its former site or will choose a new one,” comments Pavel Fomenko, head of rare species conservation program at WWF Russia Amur branch.
Translocation technique is widely used in the world when dealing with conflict wild animals. A tiger home range also witnessed a number of translocations when tigers successfully settled down in new territories
Timely resolution of conflicts is a guarantee of a peaceful coexistence of tigers and humans. At the moment, in Primorsky and Khabarovsky Provinces an effective system of mitigating conflicts between large predators and humans is being developed.
Sedating and transportation procedures were supervised by the professional veterinaries of the Primorskaya State Agriculture Academy.
For four days the tiger was kept in the enclosure in the Rehab center near the village of Alekseevka (Primorsky Province).
“Data received from GPS collar on 31 October confirmed that the tiger has moved 5 kilometers up north from the point of release, in an opposite direction, away from the densely populated territories, such as Artyom and Vladivostok cities. It means that he successfully recovered sedation, with no harm to his health”,comments Alexey Kostyria, senior coordinator of rare species conservation program at WWF Russia Amur branch.
*On 26 October, 2016 the police received information from a citizen of Artyom city, who found a cow killed by a tiger. A group on solving human-large predator conflicts of the Primorsky Province Hunting Department, experts of WWF and the Amur Tiger Center immediately came to the site to find the remains of a cow. Footprints left in the soil proved that the cow was attacked by an adult Amur tiger.
In the evening on October 26, the conflict group detected the tiger with an infra-red camera when he was coming back to his prey. The male was safely captured and placed to the rehabilitation center in Alekseevka village.
The examination and analyses showed that this is a healthy 4-5 years old Amur tiger male weighing more than 170 kg. I wonder what the real weight of this male is. Source: http://www.wwf.ru/resources/news/article/eng/14652  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author So i got a hold of Sunal Kumar Roamin of Wildlife Institute of India and asked him a few questions regarding p212's weight.  *This image is copyright of its original author 205kg - P212 218kg - unknown male  (12-19-2016, 05:56 PM)Roflcopters Wrote:Nice find Copters. Vijayarajan Muthu Meet P212, the male tiger from Panna who was presumably unheard of in Kanha. Please do take a moment to read this. He was born in 2010 to the Indri Tigress who was trans-located to Panna in 2009 & believed to have been sired by T-3, the Male brought in from Pench. As a strapping young radio-collared lad, P 212 left the park in 2014 and headed towards Bandhavgarh, traversing through human settlements in a journey which perhaps created history by retracing a lost corridor between the two parks. The Panna authorities monitored him closely during this period and needless to mention, the radio-collar turned out to be of immense value. Within a month of his departure from Panna, a decision was taken to shift P212 to the lesser known Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve. No sooner did he arrive at SDTR, P212 courted with two resident females and sired litters of 4 and 5 cubs respectively by late 2014. All was hunky dory until another Male (SD005) crossed his path. As is the norm, the rival Male began wandering into P212’s territory which resulted in brutal fights for supremacy. After a series of battles, P212 was left badly injured & had lost all his canines. But the true fighter that he was, the SDTR authorities decided not to tranquilize him for medical aid as he seemed to recover naturally, albeit with a limp. However, in a remarkable turn of events during the summers of 2015, SD005 male appeared to have plotted a move to eliminate the cubs sired by P212 and the females ran for cover. It was believed that P212 ushered the female & cubs to safety in a ravine and went back to fight it out with the intruder, a broken leg & loss of canines didn’t seem to deter him. At the end of the final brutal battle which lasted a few days, P212 eventually succumbed to injuries and died a heroic death. While most (injured) males flee the scene during such hostile takeover bids, P212 chose to stay put and go down fighting. He may have lost his life but ended up saving his offspring and thereby leaving a huge legacy behind. He was given a grand funeral and the forest personnel remember him fondly as a legend of SDTR. Although not much is known of the rival male who must have wandered off to other parts of the park which had 2 other resident females, the mates of P212 and his 9 cubs are believed to be still ruling SDTR. I’ve shared the true story of P212 (as per info obtained from the authorities & sources of SDTR) at our forum since he was a direct descendant of our very own Indri / Pattewala / Limping Male / Heartshape female. Kanha’s genes are not only alive & kicking in Panna but also in Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve now. Info as well as photos courtesy : SDTR.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Raman Kalika Srivastava Good account Sri Vijayarajan Muthu and Anupam Sirohiji However, there are a couple of corrections, which I would like to bring to your notice. They were posted way back in August 2015 along with the the photographs that you have reposted P212 was killed by sd005 who is original inhabitant of sdtr and was under park monitoring since past year and a half. It fought way back in April 2014 just about a fortnight after p 212 was introduced. P212 was treated by a team of doctors for more than a week to help it heal its wounds. It was twice tranquillised in jul 2014 and in 2015. No radio collar could be put on it due to deep neck wound it had sustained, in fact it was decollared and monitored for next nine months without radio collars. Wii team radio collared it in May 2015, detailed account is there in the Facebook page of sdtr. Prior to 2013, there was no evidence of resident tigers, they were believed to be using sdtr as a stepping stone. There has been no case of poaching or poisoning of any individual since then. For the first time we are witnessing the presence of resident tigers with regular litters surviving under park monitoring. Thanks and regards
@Roflcopters I used your info on fb, I hope that's ok? I'll remove it if you'd prefer?
 (12-19-2016, 05:56 PM)Roflcopters Wrote: Great work! Two males, one weighing 205 kg and another 218 kg. That means we now have 26 male tigers for our new table! I will be making a revision soon, don't have the time now. 
In Russia, young males disperse between 18-24 months of age. In India, they seem to disperse between 24-30 months. This although conditions in India are better. The most likely reason is small reserves, no buffer zones and intense competition. For this reason, young males can be as heavy as mature animals.
My advice is to distinguish between adolescents (2-3), young adults (4-5), prime males (6-10) and old tigers (11 and over). In skulls, the distinction between age classes often is well visible. When you have information about individuals, try to contact those in the know to check what you have (Copters proved it can be done). Maybe they can tell you a bit more about fluctuations (collars often are replaced) and it's possible they also have info about total length. When you have weights, try to find out if the tigers were empty or not when they were weighed. Also try to find out a bit more about the scales used. In order to get to an assessment, we need large samples. The larger the sample, the more reliable the table. My guess is there are 500-800 adult male tigers in India today. Read a bit about sample size, statistics and conclusions. When done, also try to get to a conclusion on reliability (referring to the sources used). I'd distinguish between low, medium and high. And then there's regions. Based on old records, there could be pronounced differences between the elevated Himalayas (the Terai, Nepal and Bhutan), the alluvial floodplains in the northeast (like Kazirangha), the wetlands in the Ganges and Bhramaputra delta (the Sunderbans), the highlands of central and central-eastern India (like Kanha), the plateau of southern India (the Deccan) and southwestern India (the western Ghats). The reason to publish tables in WildFact is a lack of data in peer-reviewed documents. In some documents, the data are unreliable because weights were adjusted. Sizewise, peer-reviewed not always has meaning. The reason is only few biologists are interested in size (a lack of interest can result in a lack of knowledge). This is the reason old data are used so often. Also remember most samples are small, which could result in bias. Our aim is to collect data and enable readers to get to an opinion. What we don't want, is tables based on newspaper reports only. This is a very real danger. For example. I've read a number of reports about the large male who was moved from Ranthambore after he had killed four humans. In nearly each of them, the weight mentioned was different. He wasn't the only one. I know it's quite a job, but it's the only way to get to decent tables. Good luck.
Very Tall Tiger!
Sunil Jaiswal shared Save the Tiger's photo. DUDHWA FOUNDATION.........Year 2016 may be considered as T.I.G.E.R Poaching year.  *This image is copyright of its original author Cause : Natural death. A full grown tiger was found dead at Chikhaldara in Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Sunday. With a height of 125cm and length of 285cm, the tiger named T14 was the dominant male of Chikhaldara range for the last six years. According to sources, T14 had till now produced 30 cubs and the tiger was recorded in camera traps since 2013 and was last sighted on November 3, 2015. The putrefied carcass of the tiger was found by foresters Ashish Kokate, Satyafulla Solankhee and others during patrolling in Pachamba forest beat. Field director Dinesh Tyagi, deputy conservator of forests (DyCF), RK Wankhede, assistant conservator (ACF) Vishal Mali along with honorary wildlife warden Jayant Wadatkar and assistant commissioner of animal husbandry at Achalpur Dr VS Rahate rushed to the spot. Dr Rahate said prima facie it seems to be a natural death since there had been no tampering with the carcass. The tiger might have died of sunstroke. The carcass was five days old and in a highly decomposed state. Forest officials have sent samples of viscera, lungs, heart, stomach contents, maggots and water for forensic analysis at Nagpur to confirm the exact cause of death. The field director ruled out poaching as all the body parts such as skull, jaws, canines, nails and paws were intact. (Representational image)
210 kilograms problematic 4 year old male that strayed out of Dudhwa National Park.
Real life Story- Tiger of Rehman Kheda Chilly winter days of January 2012 gradually transformed into breezy spring of February. The mild winters of February slowly melted into the light warmth of March. Lot many flowering trees bloomed. Semal and Palash turned into fiery red. Leafless Sheesham trees bore new soft green leaves. Holi was celebrated with gaiety both by urban and rural folks. People sprayed wet colors on each other, and sang loud songs of mirth. Then, days of light warmth knocked on the doors of April. Reign of long dark nights gave way to one of long bright days. The farmers harvested good wheat crop, and mango orchard owners looked towards a bumper crop of mangos. Two third of the April too passed and now one could feel the heat of the daytime. May was going to be really hot, everyone thought. Water was getting scantier in small ponds and nullahs. Besides the weather, too much had changed at Lucknow in the last four months. Elections were held in February and everyone seemed busy. Poll results had uprooted one government and paved way for another. People believed in change, it seemed. In the department of forest, corridors of power remained the hatching ground of conspiracies. Top brass retired one after the other taking few battles to the court as well. What really had not changed in the last four months was situational attributes of this tiger vis a vis UP forest department. The tiger had discovered a perfect home in the thin small 70 acre jungle of Rehman Kheda. All evidences, direct and indirect, had pointed out its straying out from its real natural home, the Dudhwa National Park at a distance of about 200 km from Lucknow, towards agricultural fields . Could a tiger get strayed so far and travel so long, everyone wondered. This jungle of Rehman Kheda, just a woodland with a small running water stream was really not big enough to support a tiger, yet it provided good cover to it in those long dark nights and short foggy days. In the beginning, tiger had preyed upon few neelgais inhabiting the same area. Later neelgais left the area under terror, and forest department in order to cage this animal or tranquilize it safely, started providing live baits to it in the form of buffalo calves, the goats, a domestic pig on one occasion, and later a full-size buffalo. Despite forest department’s best efforts that included multi pronged strategies at the hands of experts comprising of senior foresters, shooters, trackers, wildlife managers, tranquilizing experts, the tiger could neither be caged nor tranquilized. Tiger had learnt the skill of survival under odd and abnormal situations in a home away from its real home. And now the time and opportunities were slipping fast. The public outcry was at its peak. And media was crying hoarse about the terror the tiger had created among the local populace, and its ‘sufferings’. The terror and suffering, both were somewhat real, somewhat imaginary. People’s movement had been grounded to almost zero by presence of this tiger and ensuing restrictions the forest department and district administration had imposed upon the public. This tiger came into my professional life very late, and I too, under force of unmitigated circumstances made a hurried exit from its life, even before the turn of events in his life could reach a climax. Climax came a little too late. At that time I was only a distant spectator. Exactly on 1st of January 2012, there came a report from some rural part of adjoining Hardoi district that few pugmarks of tiger were spotted in an agricultural field. No wonder it was not taken very seriously. Hardoi district has hardly any forest cover. Simultaneously a rumor was found afloat that few peasants had seen a tiger in the agricultural fields of Malihabad and Kakori, places not far off from Lucknow, merely at a distance of twenty km from Lucknow. It was dusk time and the fields were laden with wheat and mustard. Dusk is the time when most optical illusions and visual confusions occur. On the basis of this premise, the event of witnessing or sighting a tiger by few peasants was not taken as very reliable. The second premise was: there are no jungles around Lucknow in a territory of 175 Kms. So sighting of a tiger, that too in an agricultural field at dusk, far from jungle, was at best attributed to drunken state of mind of those peasants. The matter was dismissed without much ado. However on 7th of January, sighting of few clear pugmark was reported from a rural area around Kakori, a town about 15 km away from Lucknow towards Hardoi side. There were no report of any cattle killing, yet this area being nearer to Lucknow, the state capital, naturally called for taking the matter much more seriously by the forest department. Forest department was still in the state of reverie when a report came on 9th January from Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), Rehman Kheda, a fenced up area of about 300 acres, lying on the right of Lucknow –Hardoi railway line, that a neelgai has been killed in its campus by some tiger, and most of its part has been eaten away. With this news, forest officials rushed to the spot. Not only a big neelgai was killed but there were fresh pugmarks of tiger all around. A story had begin. So, a few things were clear. There was a tiger, and a male one, strayed away from its natural habitat to an area which was bare of jungle or greenery, the only possible exception being only this very campus of CISH which had a number of mango and jamun orchards at different level of experimentations, besides some scattered thorny bushes, or the adjoining area of State Agricultural Institute which had few areas lookalike forest. Both the patches together still lacked depth of a shelter for an animal like tiger. Forest department had to see to it that the local population does not come to any harm by this tiger, and their life remains normal; at the same time tiger too is not damaged by any one, it is caught safely either by caging or tranquilizing , and transported back to its natural habitat. It was a big and very uncertain task demanding of specialty, leadership, teamwork, PR and resources. Forest department in earlier times had caged and tranquilized few such strayed-away tigers, even had eliminated few under certain exigency, and definitely was equal to task; but as the later events proved forest department was no equal to this tiger’s wit, cunningness, coolness, adoptability and a very high instinct to survive. In the beginning, forest department imagined: with its experience, lore of handling such situations, and capability of roping in the services of specialists from the top institutes, it would diffuse the situation, one way or the other; but it was all wrong. It did rope in the services of their own experts and some old experienced animal trackers, besides the experts on tranquilization from Wildlife Institute of India, Wildlife Trust of India, WWF, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Nandan Kanan Zoological Park Bhubaneshwar, and few others. Most of these experts were tired by the end of January and too eager to go home. Long cold dark nights and dim foggy days of January, the sweet water flowing into Behta nullah running over the territory of CISH, thick luxuriant growth of scattered thorny bushes, presence of neelgais- although their number was receding with time for tiger’s terror- had all helped tiger to survive the month of January. All the strategies of forest department to tranquilize or cage the tiger had failed. Technology had come to the aid of forest department. It was tracking its pugmarks or other signs every morning and was trying to study its movement with the help of their GPS locations plotted on a sheet of paper. On the basis of this knowledge, cages with live baits, mainly goats and small buffalo calves, were being put at the spots most likely to be visited by tiger in the night. The machans too were being tied at such likely spots too with tranquilizing experts over the machans and live baits under them in order to tranquilize the beast if it ever comes in daytime to take the bait. The tiger never took the bait either physically or literally the entire January. It did come to some cage some time but had the sense and self discipline not to be lured into it. On one occasion, instead of entering into the cage and getting trapped, it just cut the tail of the goat hanging from the cage, and decamped with it. Later the forest department, in order to concrete its efforts, imported urine of some tigress from the local Zoo, and sprinkled it all over the cage. But sadly tiger was too experienced to be lured into cage thwarting all feminine entrapments. On few occasions it killed the live bait of a buffalo calf under the machan in the darkness of night , hurriedly ate a small portion of it, and bolted away never to return to the same spot. It was playing its game cautiously and all its cards closer to its chest. In the entire month of January 2012 hardly was it actually seen by any forest staff. Definitely on one occasion a supervisor and few laborers of CISH accosted it on a bend in a mango orchard one afternoon. This chance encounter was unexpected and every one bolted so swiftly that even the tiger felt embarrassed. Later CISH campus gave a deserted look. Most of the employees were asked not to turn up until tiger left the campus. Technology further came to the aid of forest department, and one fine evening tiger got himself photographed in a camera trap . This picture of tiger was released to the media, and media kept circulating scores of sensational stories about this tiger for about a week. This tiger, localized to the campus of NISH and adjoining State Agricultural Institute, got so much bored that it started taking excursions in the night time. It often crossed under the fence of CISH, crossed over the railway track, and toured few village boundaries and agricultural fields under the glow of winter moonlight. However it did not enter into village habitation or killed any cattle or teased any human being, thus totally avoiding any controversy or embarrassment to the forest department. One night it went as bold as to have crossed River Gomti, visited few villages of trans Gomti area, took overview of the world, and came back silently to its newfound home. However all these activities of tiger bagged good time for rumor mongers and gossipers. A ‘tiger’ was seen on the edge of so many villages and small towns at dusk time resulting into the loud outcry and killing of some harmless animals. Delay in caging the tiger also gave a good time to the agitationists, activists, trade uninionists and pseudo environmentalists. My entry into the life of this tiger happened by default on 1st February 2012 when government appointed me Chief Wildlife Warden of the state. My retirement was due in two months, on 31st March. My only fear was this tiger might not cost me my job and subsequently a disgraceful retirement. So the first thing that I did after taking over this job was to pray God to bestow upon this tiger necessary skill and courage to slip under the cover of darkness from this Rehmankheda woodland and march back silently to its original home. God did not grand me this wish. So I had no option but to recourse to other actions . I asked old reliable Dr Utkarsh Shukla, the Vet and Kamal, the tracker, of Lucknow Zoo to be associated with this mission in whom so many were already knee deep. Dr Utkarsh Shukla is Deputy Director and chief Vet of Lucknow Zoo, and in few years time would have the world record of tranquilizing most number of animals in wild condition. Kamal is virtually a jungle worm and knows jungle and its denizens as intimately as one knows the palm of one’s hand. My arms being tied with so many other botherations, I kept myself confined only to occasional visits of the area, discussing the matter on hand with staff and experts, counseling where necessary, briefing to the government and press, and left the real caging part of the tiger to the wisdom and ingenuity of local forest department and its officers. However I politely asked Nawab Shafat Ali Khan of Hyderabad, whom forest department had called for consultations, to disassociate himself from the operation. He is the shikari and hunter par excellence and his experience in eliminating the refractory carnivore is extraordinary. He was the one who had eliminated a similar strayed out tiger in Kumarganj (Faizabad) under most difficult situations in the year 2009. This tiger had killed a few persons and was living in a small patch of forest, and had proved one of the most delusive animals ever noticed. Nawab had come to the rescue of forest department when most of its expert had failed, and not many options were left. Nawab had camped there then in that out-of-world hamlet for a long time under scant facilities, and had done that all at his own expenses. Taking such adventures was his passionate hobby. I made Nawab sahib very clear that I wish to catch this tiger all very alive and safe, and since he has not much experience in tranquilizing the animals I would simply be wasting his time, although he was very willing to stay even at the risk of his own life. His presence was giving wrong signals to the public and press. Everyone thought forest department wished to hunt away this animal which was really not the case. In the meanwhile some more experts left home and some more joined to swell the rank of experts. Forest department’s LIT Guest House in the outskirts of Lucknow on Hardoi Road virtually became ‘centre for strategic planning’, and a borrowed room in the main building of CISH a ‘war room’. I called Roopkali, a trained elephant along with its mahout from Dudhwa National Park for the tracking purposes, later to be joined by another elephant Champakali. Later I called PP Singh Ex Deputy Direcor, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, to join the fray too. He was the one who was young and had extensive experience in tackling such situations. He was the one whom I had permitted a few years back to shoot an almost crippled ‘tiger of Kaanptanda’. It was difficult to say who changed its strategies fast? The forest department to catch this tiger alive and safe? Or the tiger to survive forest department’s stratagems of trapping it? Tiger so far was successful in outsmarting forest department’s moves. Forest department was changing its strategies so fast that sometimes it looked as if it had no strategy. Forest department then embarked upon lot many innovative ideas. Now there were not just live bait in the cages; at certain strategic spots tranquilizing experts themselves sat in the cages, half dug into bunker like pits and camouflaged with dry leaves, with a live bait close to the cage. Idea was to hit the tiger with tranquilizing dart from close quarter when it came to kill the bail. Tiger was able to sense it and never came close to these bunkers. When tigers kill a big bait like a buffalo and eat part of it, they have tendency to come back to the same ‘kill’ to devour the rest. Hunters in old days sat on machans over this ‘kill’ to shoot the tigers. These days tranquilizing experts sit over such machans to shoot the tigers with a dart gun. This tiger never came back to its ‘kill’. Rather on one occasion it chopped off the head of the buffalo calf tethered to a tree with a thick rope, and took away its entire body from under the machan. On another occasion in daytime it did come quite close to Roopkali but one of the experts sitting over Roopkali missed the mark by his dart gun, and tiger went away happy. Later forest department played audio cassettes of ‘tiger roar’ in the cages to attract the tiger. Either the tiger was too clever to be bluffed by these roars , or the ‘tiger roar’ was not loud enough to catch the attention of tiger. The strategy failed. Then someone suggested bringing in a live tigress from the Zoo to attract this male tiger. The idea was bright and innovative but found impractical. It was adjudged highly cumbersome to bring in a caged female tigress from the Zoo, and put it the vicinity of the cage having a live or dead bait. Idea was rejected. Later forest department in an ingenious move brought in a trophy of female tigress, sprinkled it generously with the urine of female tigress, and put it at strategic points beside the cages with bait to attract this male tiger. The exercise continued for about a week. The tiger was not lured, and the trophy was sent back to the Zoo. Some more ingenuity was applied. The point from where tiger often crossed under the fence was blocked and some rope traps were laid. Tiger failed to get into rope traps. Later some long hunting nets, locally known as khabar, too were deployed but to no avail. Some ditches were dug on other side of the fence on its way to outings in the night. Tiger ditched this plan too. Tiger changed its course of outing. There was lot of grumbling and clamor from the media and NGOs who were kept out of the spot of actual action. Tiger remained unfazed from the event of assembly election in the middle of February and later Holi in the second week of March, although forest department was under tremendous pressure to keep the tiger alive and safe from hooligans and miscreants and at the same time handle the law and order situation. There were few pooling booths in the vicinity of tiger’s newfound home too. It was to be ensured that polling was no way affected by the presence of tiger. Then came in more experts and opinion makers, and some more ingenuity was applied to the mission. A pit, 10 feet long, 10feet wide and 12 feet deep was dug at a strategic point. The dug earth was spread on one side of the pit, a buffalo calf was put on the base of the pit, and pit was camouflaged. The idea was; tiger, while chasing the smell of the bait, would fall into the pit. The tiger did come to the pit in the night and sniffed the buffalo. In the meanwhile buffalo too, sensing the presence of tiger up above, got panic stricken, rambled and made such frantic movements that it broke its own neck. Tiger sensing the danger moved away. In the morning when forest guys reached the pit, they found the buffalo almost comatose hanging upside down in the pit. It was taken out of the pit and replaced by another buffalo with some modification in the camouflage. Tiger did come again to pit another night and really fell into it, but escaped unhurt from the pit by making firm grip on the rain soaked wall of the pit with its claws. It had rained only a day before. It all sounds incredible but strangely it is true. It was concluded the pit was not deep enough. Another bigger pit was made of 12’x12’x14’ size , the dug earth spread on one side of it, and camouflaged much more intensively with dry leaves and twigs. Tiger never came to it. From the middle of March, course of events started taking more dramatic turns. Days started stretching longer and nights shorter. Sun was getting warmer and water scarcer. There was leaf fall in most of the trees in tiger’s new found home and thus much less availability of cover to hide . By all means these conditions were much less favorable to tiger than earlier. A new popular government had taken oath in Lucknow. Press, feeling relieved of heavy electioneering process and government formation, was now feeling rejuvenated and more focused on this tiger. The local population too, grounded so long because of the terror of this tiger, wanted more unrestricted movement in the area. Things were getting politicized. There was much more monitoring of this tiger’s wherewithal at government level than earlier. General perception was forest department has not been able to do anything concrete so far. It must do now or never. Some heads were likely to roll if something went wrong. No one was sure what was going wrong. After a fortnight on 31st March 2012 I retired from the government service, my job all intact. I thanked my stars and the tiger for not messing up the things. Thus I silently exited from the life of this tiger. From this point onward in this story, my source of information is a report compiled by Sub Divisional Forest Officer Sri BB Srivastave. He was the one person who was engaged in this operation from day one to last , and one of the important think tanks then. With the passage of time forest department inducted more experts and changed its strategies more frequently. The entire area so far virtually cordoned off from the eyes of public and press, was now frequently and massively visited by the public, press, government officials, bureaucrats and ministers. The tiger so far virtually invisible to forest people was chance encountered in the first week of May by whole entourage of minister, press people and crowd of public and forest staff. It was clicked extensively, and next day the newspapers were full of coverage of this operation. The things were gradually slipping from the hands of forest department. Then forest department decided to slap all its resources on this operation. A fresh thinking was on its way. All the unnecessary staff was asked to detach itself from the Operation. The number of vehicles was increased, and more cages were procured from all over the state. Frequency of baiting was reduced. Buffalo calves were replaced by full grown buffaloes. Tranquilizing activity so far confined to daytime only was taken up in the night too with the help of strong search lights. Use of elephants so far limited to tracking of the tiger, was extended to tranquilizing too. More tranquilizing teams and their backup teams were formed and deployed. The entire area was divided into workable plots. The forest department was working on war footing. By the middle of April the shape of the operation had turned more like a silent haanka or kheda type of operation where few teams were working day and night to track the tiger, drive it to some suitable spot in the open , and to finally tranquilize it. Success came to it finally on 25th April. It was the day when teams had started their work right from 3.30 in the morning. They were trying to track the tiger on the basis of its movement after it had killed a buffalo a night before. Finally the tiger was tracked and driven by a team comprising BB Srivastava and others sitting on one elephant to a spot where Dr Utkarsh Shukla, Kamal and PP Singh were waiting on another elephant. As soon as the tiger came in range, Dr Utkarsh Shukla fired the tiger with the tranquilizing gun, and the dart hit it on its left rump. Tiger had no clue as to what has happened to it. It rushed towards jungle and was further tracked. However its gait slowed down and fifteen minutes after it fell unconscious and hit the ground. Rest of the story is very simple. It was put into a cage, its rising temperature cooled down by pouring water over it, and then treated with necessary antidotes. Surprisingly the tiger had no injury and was absolutely healthy. A large local crowd had gathered to see the tiger. Shortly it was visited by every high up from Lucknow including the minister, bureaucrats, press and public. Tiger was weighed and measured and its vital statistics recorded. Then it was radio collared. Now this 10.5 feet long tiger, weighing 210 kg, all well and healthy, was on a different voyage and on a different lease of life. It was transported to forests of Sonaripur in Dudhwa National Park, and silently released deep into the jungle. It was believed to have come from there only to Rehman Kheda to stay in a thin patch of forest for about four months. 28-12-2016. Credits to Mohammad Ahsan - the former principal chief conservator of forests.
Hi everyone reading. Here is a small screen shot for anyone interested in saving this report into there pictures for future reference...
Mohammad Ahsan via facebook  *This image is copyright of its original author BTW, I found an article and pictures of the 210 kg (463 lb) tiger. See below  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author http://www.wpsi-india.org/news/30042012.php
Body Mass of Bengal tiger in Modern Records: Revised (2017)
Hello everyone, after a wave of new tiger weights, I have decided to make a new revision of the body mass of Bengal tiger in modern records. This list included the weights of 27 male tigers, with a few others not included. The average body weight is 495 lbs (225 kg). Note: Sundarbans tigers not included. Chitwan NP, Nepal: Average 221 kg adjusted. n=7. Range 184-261 kg. Reference: Smith et al., 1983; Sunquist, 1981. These tigers originally averaged 235 kg but they consumed on average 14 kg of meat Chitwan NP, Nepal: 270+ kg. n=1. Reference: Dinerstein, E. (2003). This animal (M026) exceeded the scale of 270 kg along with Sauraha male (M105). This animals weight of 270 kg's is included. Nagarahole NP: Average 217 kg adjusted. n=3. Range 209-227 kg. Reference: Karanth, 1993. Panna TR Average 245 kg. n=2. Range 240-250 kg. Reference. Chundawat & Malik, 2010; Pers Comm. 2009. Note: Both these tigers exceeded a scale of 250 kg, but was estimated to weigh about these measurements, M-91's weight was adjusted down due to 10 kg of weighing equipment. The other tiger was Madla who's weight is given as 250 kg. Panna TR 240 kg. n=1. Reference: Noronha, 2015. Tiger known as "T-3", stated to be 10 years old. Tiger was reintroduced to Panna TR. This was a statement from former field director, Panna tiger reserve, R Sriniwas Murthy. Panna TR 211.5 kg. n=2. Range 205-218 kg. Reference: Roamin; Pers. Comm. 2016. Two tigers, one known as P212 weighed 190 kg at 4.5 years old, this same animal was stated to have weighed 205 kg's during the winter months. Another unknown male was stated to have weighed 218 kg. Sariska TR, India 220 kg. n=1. Reference: Sinha , 2008. This tiger was a young male, said to be three and a half years old. This tiger was also recaptured and estimated to weigh 250 kg when it was older Kanha NP, India 197 kg. n=1. Reference: 21st Century Tiger, 2014 Kanha NP, India 225+ kg. n=2. Reference: Sinha; Pers. Comm. 2016 & Minha Ha; Pers. Comm. 2016. Tigers named Banda and Konda both exceeded a scale of 225 kg. These tigers where weighed back in October and February of 2007. These animals weights that exceeded scale are included in the final average. Kanha NP, India 225 kg. n=1. Reference: Vats, 2016. This tiger is the sub adult male named Bheema. He weighed 225 kg at the age of 2.5 years old. He was later estimated to weigh greater then 280 kg's as an adult. This animal is not included in the final average. Ghunghuti forest range, India 280 kg. n=1. Reference: Indiatoday, 2016. A tiger which terrorised locals was caught and relocated to a enclosure in BTR. The statement came from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Jitendra Agrawal. Uttar Pradesh's South Kheri forest 235 kg. n=1. Reference: Singh, 2016. This is the Kheri man-eater transferred to Lucknow Zoo. Animal said to be 4 years old. Treated by Dr. Mayukh Chatterjee Dudhwa NP, India 210 kg. n=1. Reference: Ahsan; Pers. Comm. 2016. This was a 4 year old problematic male tiger that strayed out of Dudhwa NP. Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve 185 kg. n=1. Reference: Habib; Pers. Comm. 2015. Tiger named Gabbar, 8 year old male Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve 197 kg. n=1. Reference: Dhanwatey, 2015. This tiger was a 4 year old problem animal which attacked a farmer and his cattle. This animal had received injuries to its paws and nose, aswell as broken canines. This animal was featured in animal planet series 'Living with Maneaters'. Ranthambore NP, India 240 kg. n=1. Reference: Khandal; Pers. Comm. 2015. Tiger known as "T-24", This tiger was actually weighed in 2009. Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagpur, India 230 kg. n=1. Reference: Karoo; Pers. Comm. 2015. Tiger named Jai. This tiger was stated to weigh between 220 and 238 kg, the weighing scale used had a 18 kg margin of error. This same tiger was also stated to have been weighed a second time, one authority claiming 240 kg's and another stating 215 kg's. [b][u]Pench NP, India[/b][/u] 225 kg. n=1. Reference: Minha Ha; Pers. Comm. 2016. This tiger is the son of BMW of pench said to be 2.5 years old which died due to poisoning in January of 2016. This animal is not included. Pench NP, India 200+ kg. n=1. Reference: Majumder, 2012. This tiger exceeded a scale of 200 kg, weight was estimated to be upto 220 kg. Not included in final average. The average comes to 224.6 kg's (495 lb), n=27
Bheema from Kahna was 225kg at 2.5,
Confirmed by min and vijay. Great job! |
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