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

[GuateGojira]

peter\ dateline='\'1433884286' Wrote: Male Amur tigers average 195 cm. in head and body length in a straight line. Male Ussuri brown bears average 196 cm. 'over contours'. Same as Yellowstone male brown bears. As the Yellowstone male brown bears were 32 cm. shorter in a straight line (164 cm.), one has to assume the Ussuri's would be about similar if they would have been measured in a straight line. Male Amur tigers, therefore, are 31 cm. longer in head and body length in a straight line. Seen from this perspective, one could say Guate was quite generous to the Ussuri male brown bear in the comparison.

Guate was generous in other respects as well. Kucherenko wrote Ussuri male brown bears average 264 kg. (583 pounds) and Goodrich said they average about 270 kg. (596 pounds), but 2 adult males recently weighed by biologists were 180 and 235 kg. (207,5 kg. or 458 pounds) on average. Quite a difference, that is. Same for females. Kucherenko wrote they averaged 189 kg. (418 pounds), but recent information points towards 140-150 kg. (320 pounds).

As I don't know what to make of it, I propose to take 543 pounds (246 kg. roughly) for now and assume it's a year-round average. In females, the average would be 369 pounds, say 360-380 pounds for now.    

The average for male Amur tigers, on the other hand, could be a bit higher in most departments. The WCS-table used by Guate included a number of young adults (a). Some of the tigers, weightwise, were well under par (b). Three is the Aldrich footsnare used to capture Amur tigers failed on at least two occasions ©. This means large males might be able to break free, which would affect the average to a degree. Not saying those who escaped the footsnare were well over 440 pounds, but they were large males and they were not weighed.  

All in all, one could perhaps say healthy male Amur tigers, at 190-200 cm. in head and body length measured in a straight line, average 420-440 pounds, whereas male Ussuri bears, at 160-170 cm. in head and body length measured in a straight line, could average 540-550 pounds. Male Ussuri brown bears, therefore, are both absolutely and relatively more robust. They also produce more exceptional specimens. When both animals would be seen close to each other, the picture that emerges could be close to the one Guate produced.

Here's the table on Yellowstone brown bears I referred to above. It is about the average difference between 'length' and 'contour length' in 55 adult males (older than 5 years of age) at the bottom of the table. Also take notice of the average chest girth, height and neck girth:

*This image is copyright of its original author

       
Here's a photograph of a male brown bear of 275 kg. (607 pounds) who reached 223 cm. on his hind legs. It was posted a long time ago by Warsaw. The bear, if I remember correctly, was exhibited somewhere in Canada, but I'm not sure:

*This image is copyright of its original author

  

This is the famous picture of the diorama again. The more I see it, the better I like it. Based on what we know, it could be quite accurate. Both are about similar in length (tiger a bit longer), but the bear is more robust and heavier:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The scenario in the photograph (male against male) is an unlikely one. Bart Schleyer, based on what he saw in the snow, said that tigers who hunt bears (most often older males) usually have about a 100 pounds on them. This advantage allows for a quick kill (a bite to the base of the neck). In at least two cases, the ambush developed into a 20-minute fight. The most likely reason was size in that both bears involved, adult females, were (visually) estimated at 150-200 kg. The male tigers who fought them probably were about similar in weight. In both cases the brown bear was killed, but the tigers were injured.

Some Ussuri male bears follow tigers in order to rob or even hunt them. These 'satellite bears' target immatures and females with cubs. In Heptner and Sludskij (German translation of 1980), a number of incidents between large male brown bears and tigresses or adolescent tigers were described. The conclusion is male brown bears, like male tigers, prefer to attack smaller animals.

There's no question males clash at times, especially in years with crop failure and mass migration of prey animals (deer and wild boars), but all-out fights seem to be singular events.

 

Maybe I was "generous" like you say, but I tried to stay true to the measurements, after all, there is no evidence about how those bears were measured, as they were not taken by American scientists, but by Kucherenko in Russia. Besides, I can't see that animals with skulls of no less than 380 cm, could measure only 164 cm in head-body, which will be similar to sloths bears in India (I try it, and it looks too small). Maybe the Grizzlies of Yellowstone are just smaller than those of the Russian Far East (this seems correct), or maybe is just the sample size (10 against 55).

On the weight issue, I don't see why the average of Kucherenko could be wrong. For the contrary, it shows that most of the males weight around 260-270 kg with maybe just one exceptional male of 320 kg. Check that the sample is of 10 males, so 9 were probably between the first range (I am speculating, but based in real possibilities). This figure was confirmed by modern studies like those of the Siberian Tiger Project, sadly they are not willing (yet) to share more data on they bears. Still, the data suggest that adult male bears in the area do weight about 260-270 kg, with just one exceptional case of 320 kg.

I am interesting in the sources of the three male bears that you quote (165, 180 and 235 kg) in order to include them in the comparative image. Reply