ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

ABOUT A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO BULLS, ONE OF WHICH WAS A TIGER - V

f - the northern India tiger

f1 - Appearance and behaviour

" ... Watered by the many mountain rivers that help to swell the mighty Ganges, this fertile, sub-Himalayan country is the home of the wild elephant, and the massively built tiger of northern India, whose fur for dazzling beauty - the male growing an appreciable mane - is famous thoughout this vast peninsula, and even far beyong the confines of the awe-inspiring Himalayas ... " (pp. 9-10).

In 'Comedy and tragedy in the jungle', Knowles and another hunter, a Mrs. B., sat up for a large male tiger:

" ... After a while, we saw some bamboo clumps shaking up on the plateau, and heard an occasional crash. We immediately suspected wild elephants - apparently grazing. Then it happened that the young buffalo below our tree got restless, and managed to get a front leg entangled awkwardly in his rope. It looked as if the leg might easily be broken, and we felt sorry for the poor creature. I climbed down off the tree to release the leg, leaving Mrs. B. with my heavy rifle, which I could not manage to bring down with me ... " (pp. 24).

While trying to free the leg of the young buffalo, Knowles heard a crow cawing on the other side of the grove. As he knew they often follow tigers, Knowles quickly crouched low and took cover behind a fairly wide anthill, about four feet high:

" ... Peeping between two small, pyramidical spires - about a foot high - erected by the thoughtful jungle ants on top of their castle, I suddenly beheld - bent low to the ground - a massive red head, with a shaggy mane drooping over a thick neck. Then, moving most stealthtily, with cautious halts to listen, there came into gradual view the dazzling drapery in 'rouge et noir', of that dreaded jungle gambler and cattle thief. An exceptionally pale shade of yellow seemed to run along the low length of his stomach, and a beautiful, checkered tail, like a gliding snake - trailed the ground behind him, a magnificent specimen of a Himalayan monster ... " (pp. 25).      

In another story ('A tragic mistake': the champions of Islam'), Knowles and Diggs, trying to locate a large male tiger thriving on cattle, suddenly see a wounded barking deer. The wounded little deer sits down, unable to proceed further owing to its wounds. When the noise of the monkeys increases in volume and they spot an invisible animal, Knowles glances up the ridge:

" ... Under the cover of some fine waving grass, we see something of a dark red colour moving along stealthily. It looks like a large jungle cat, and almost seems to melt away against the reddish brown background of a clump of leaves soaked by the recent shower of rain. At this very instant, a low 'mee-aw' comes from below, at the back of our elephant, and we glance down simultaneously. To our surprise we see another cat standing about twenty paces below our position. It has apparently just come up from the deep nullah that we had negociated a few moments ago. We glance at the little barking deer to our right front, still sitting down in its pain, and moving its small head about restlessy, with terror in its large, beautiful, pathetic eyes. Tiger cubs, whispers Diggs in my ear. 'Watch', he repeats, 'here is something worth studying. The cubs are apparently learning how to kill, and the tigress must be hiding somewhere close by, watching their practise attempts, and keeping an eye on our elephant. She has probably wounded this little barking deer to make the lessons of attack easier for her cubs' ... " (pp. 210).  

f2 - Size

The first story ('A moonlight ghost') is about a midnight hunt for a man-eating tiger who shut down an entire tea-estate in northern India. Knowles, his friend Bill (the manager of the estate) and an assistent (Jackson) decide to travel to a bungalow on the out-factory in an old bullock cart. The bulls have tinkling bells around their neck to attract the man-eater. Everyone knew the Banwali bungalow was often visited by the man-eater.

On their way to the bungalow, they hear and see a big black bear and a sambar startled by the tiger. They then now the man-eater is following. When they reach the bungalow, a wild tusker suddenly emerges from the forests. The bullocks come to a dead halt, frozen with terror. The tusker, meaning business, attacks and the bullocks bolt. The three men are swung our of the cart. Two of the three manage to enter the bungalow. Jackson can't be found. When Knowles is attending to his friend, badly shaken and dazed, he sees something he will never forget:

" ... My frightened voice sounds far away. I have placed Bill in a chair near the table, and I am about to pour out some whisky with a trembling hand - listening to the wild elephant crashing through the jungle again - when suddenly we see something huge in front of the wide open door: 'What is that? ', Bill gasps out queerly. An enormous dark shadow the size of a buffalo looms up as if by sudden magic, obliterating the moonlight. It has a colossal cat's head - am I dreaming? I am about to shout 'Jackson', but I am choked, dazed, transfixed with terror. Bill sits silent - staring, staring! The huge shadow squats down deliberately before us, stretching out two formidable paws and placing them on the threshold of the door. His great tail sways behind, and beats with loud knocks on the shining pavement of the veranda - my God! - in satisfaction of his mind. His great head is erect, looking at us, fascinating us - so silent, so still ... " (pp. 5-6).

There are more stories in which male tigers feature. In each, they are described as huge Himalayan 'monsters'. Was Knowles a novice with zero experience? Was he overdoing it? Not really. Knowles had 30 years of experience and saw plenty of tigers. And his stories, I think, were anything but overdone. He wrote about the things he saw and in those days you could see a lot.      

Those who had personal experience with Indian tigers agreed tigers in northern India were larger than in other regions. Many males were massively built animals, Knowles wrote. Is there more reliable info on the size of Himalayan tigers? Plenty.

Sir John Hewett ('Jungle Trails in Northern India', 1938, Natraj Publishers reprint, 2008), Eardley-Wilmot ('The Life of a Tiger', 1911), Carrington Turner ('Man-eaters & Memories', 1959, Natraj Publishers reprint, 2007) and the Sunquists ('Tiger Moon', 1988, and 'Wild Cats of the World', 2002) all confirmed Himalayan tigers are large animals.

The longest tiger skull I know of (16,25 inches in greatest total length) belonged to a 10.2 tiger shot by Hewett's daughter. I have posted a table with skull measurements of tigers shot in northern India some time ago. The table, constructed by Eardley Wilmot, shows some male tiger tigers shot in northern India well exceeded 15 inches in greatest total skull length. The Hewett skull was measured by an experienced taxidermist and Eardley Wilmot was as educated as they come.   

Hewett measured tigers 'over curves'. The 45 males he and others shot, including a number of immatures, averaged 9.95 inches in total length. If measured 'between pegs', the average would have ranged between 9.45 and 9.65 inches. I propose to use 9 feet 5,5 inches (288,29 cm.) as a hypohesis for now. Carrington Turner, an experienced Forest Officer, measured the tigers he shot in Kumaon 'between pegs'. His findings (most males were 9.5-9.6 and one just exceeded 10.0) roughly confirmed Hewett's measurements. Maybe northern India male tigers, if anything, top 9.6. If correct, it means tigers living just south of the Himalayas are almost as long as wild Amurs (who average about 9.8).

The information about weight is confusing. Hewett's males averaged 435,7 lbs. (range 355-570), but his sample of 18 included at least two and probably three immatures. Furthermore, 12 male tigers tigers described as 'heavy' or 'very heavy' were not weighed. Same for 5 very long males shot in Nepal. Based on the information he provided, I got to an average of 480-490 lbs. for an adult male. The Sunquists, about a century later, weighed 7 males. They averaged 235 kg. unadjusted and 221 kg. adjusted. One of them was not adult. As 221 kg. equals 488-489 lbs., the 7 Nepal male tigers confirmed the result of my calculation.

In the last four decades, at least two Nepal males bottomed a 600-pound scale. As a result of a lack of details, some biologists argued they would have been below 500 when adjusted. Statements of that nature from professionals, in my opinion, are very close to deliberate misinformation. One could argue a lot more, but there's no question Himalayan tigers (Nepal and northern India) are the heaviest wild big cats today. And by quite a margin at that. 

Maybe Kazirangha tigers are close in weight and maybe they are not. If we use the information of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, the conclusion is tigers in northwest India and Nepal are a bit longer. I know the Cooch Behar tigers were heavier (460 pounds including a few gorged specimens and 453 pounds without them), but we have to remember Hewett wasn't able to weigh many large tigers. I propose to use the average I calculated (480-490 pounds) for northwest India and 450-460 pounds for the northeast for now. If we use 420-430 pounds (Miquelle) for Amurs today, the conclusion is northwest India tops the list, followed by northeast India. Crater lions, based on the informaton we have (chest circumference 127-134 cm.), could just top today's Amurs, but my guess is it's too close to call. We also have to remember the relation between chest girth and weight is different in tigers. In Indian tigers, total length seems to be the best indicator for weight. In Amur tigers, chest girth could be a better indicator. But male 'Luke', at 212 kg. and not mature (7 years of age or more), tops today's list, although he was smaller than average in most respects.    

I do not doubt some individuals in central India (tigers), South Africa (lions) and the Crater (lions) exceed 9.10 straight and 550 pounds empty every now and then (600 not entirely excluded), but at the level of averages Himalayan tigers probably top nearly every table. But one day in the near future, they will find an Amur close in size to his largest captive relatives. The reason is conditions are improving in Russia. Genes like good conditions. The question is not if he will be found, but if they will be able to capture him before he destroys the snare. The Aldrich footsnare could be less reliable than we think.   

This is one of the two Royal Chitwan male tigers who bottomed a 600-pound scale. Well before he did, his great size amazed the Sunquists. When he was darted again some years later, they tracked and located him using his radio-collar. This means there was no need to bait him in order to dart him. We'll never know if he was empty or not when he was weighed and again bottomed the scale, but there's no doubt he was a large and robust male tiger:

*This image is copyright of its original author

I could post a lot more from northern India, but this one, first posted by Rofl, is just as telling: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

f3 - Relations with other animals and humans

The relation between tigers and elephants was already discussed. One could say it was anything but friendly. Knowles wrote about three fights. In all three, the tiger had been wounded before the elephants were engaged. The wild tusker who gored and trampled the large tiger Knowles and Mrs. B. were after (see above) wasn't badly wounded, because the tiger succumbed to the bullit wound when he was about to engage the tusker. The two captive elephants, however, were quite badly wounded. One of them needed months to recover.

Today, we know tigers sometimes hunts in pairs. A century ago, this wasn't common knowledge. In 'A clever jungle dacoit', Knowles writes about a large male tiger known for his preference for buffalo. The lame tiger, as he was known, had met a female. Although courting, food wasn't entirely forgotten. The alliance decided for buffalo. The male walked to a road known for buffalo carts and waited for a cart. When one arrived, he paid his respects. The buffalo's immediately bolted and the tiger calmly disappeared into the jungle. Not much later, the buffalo's returned as quick as they had bolted. The reason was they had been confronted by the female. Crazed with terror, one of the buffalo's escaped. He was killed by the lame tiger. The tigress got the kill and the lame tiger then tried to lure the second. 

The owner of the cart, aware of the returning male tiger, made a run for it with his remaining 'child', as he called them. It was then that he met Knowles, his brother-in-law and their elephant. They decided to locate and shoot the male tiger. While waiting for him, they heard the buffalo call time and again. Not one word from the tiger. Was it the buffalo who was calling? Probably not, the brother-in-law thought. He was proven right. Another firsthand example of a tiger imitating a buffalo. 

Apart from 'The moonlight ghost', the book has another story about a man-eater ('On the tracks of a man-eating tiger'). The tiger who featured in this story was a lame male who terrorized his would-be-victims by roaring just before he attacked. He did it twice a week, the Thanadar of the police station said. Knowles decided to pay the tiger a visit with a friend of his brother-in-law. Seated on the back seats of the car, they drove up and down the road the tiger had used so often. The tiger didn't disappoint them:

" ... We had but scarcely turned our heads a moment to listen, when suddenly a deafening shriek from the chauffeur at the wheel, in front of Denis, made us turn sharply round again. We could scarcely believe our eyes. Denis' rifle was instantly at the shoulder with the muzzle up against a monstrous grinning head that had in its jaws - between its yellow fangs - the loose khaki of the driver's right arm. An enormous striped shoulder was lurched over, resting on the side of the car, with a great forearm and paw pressed round the driver's waist, as if the intention was to lift the poor man out bodily. Standing on his hind legs, the mighty brute's head and neck were on a level with the steering wheel. The dreaded monster had slunk out of the forest suddenly, like a cat, and moving with the rapidity and silence of a streak of lightning, before the accompaniment of thunder, was on top of us before we were aware of it.

Click-click! There was no report from Denis' rifle, and my heart sank. I could see down the brute's huge throat, as he turned with the spluttering of a steam engine to threaten us behind. A terrible grin and growl warned us again, as my rifle came up instantly, pointing straight at his face. I pulled my trigger - but there only came the sickening sound of a click! A roar followed; and the brute almost lifted the driver, who lay limp and unconscious with pain and fear ... " (pp. 306-307).

And then, round the corner, came salvation:

" ... The monster tiger let go his grip, and limped back to the edge of the forest, about fifteen paces away, where he stood, puzzled for a moment at the sound of the newly arrived car. 'Sahib, your cartridges', said Denis brave cook (the driver of the newly arrived car), as he came from behind and handed them in. 'You left them in the bungalow'.

My rifle, too, was now in order. The tiger stood before us, and with the hair standing on his neck and with arched back, he put his head down and emitted a terrible roar. The next instant a volley rang out, and we heard the echo of a distant ridge. A dull thud on the ground followed. We had at last rid the neighbourhood of the famous man-eater. He was a huge beast, measuring 10 ft. 3 inches ... " (pp. 307).

This could be the lame man-eater, but I'm not sure:

*This image is copyright of its original author

All stories are based on experience. They are as real as it gets. Most are interesting. A few are amazing. A bit too amazing, some would no doubt say. But if they would read other books published between 1850-1940, they might, as I did, conclude India could have been an amazing place. Also remember Knowles was a professional writer who contributed to different magazins. If there's one thing he would have want to prevent, it would have been loss of face.

My take on what I read in the old books is pragmatic. I've visited a few wild places, talked to people who were raised in wild places, interviewed a few hunters and talked to trainers. I also measured and observed captive big cats and measured hundreds of skulls. Based on what I saw, heard, read and experienced, I got to three conclusions. One is the human population has exploded in less than half a century only. The consequences are considerable. Wild places and wild animals are now all but gone. Two is a dimension difficult to describe had vanished as a result. Three is it is pointless to talk about it to others. They will say you live in the past. Life is about today and tomorrow, not yesterday. They are, of course, right. But you could always decide to write a book or start a forum. I would recommend it. Reply