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

peter Offline
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MY SPORTING MEMORIES - FORTY YEARS WITH NOTE-BOOK AND GUN - Maj.-Gen. N. Woodyatt, London, 1923 (320 pp.)

1 - Introduction

Woodyatt's book covers just about everything one would expect. Most game animals are discussed. The remarkable part is in his connections. Woodyatt knew most of those with experience. Some of them (like Sir John Hewett) wrote books. Books that were discussed by those interested in methods and measurements. As not all questions of those interested were answered, Woodyatt's book is interesting.    

The photographs are from General Sir Baber Shum Shere (second son of the ruler of Nepal), Lt.-Col. Sir John Goodwin and Mrs. Jack Lowis. Woodyatt thought some were remarkable. I agree. This post is limited to tigers.


2 - A conversation with Sir John Hewett 
  
As a result of his rank, Woodyatt met with many who had a reputation in British India in the first decades of the last century. The 'shoots' he was invited to were well-organized and, not seldom, quite massive. After a hunt, the participants talked. Those who topped the list during these conversations were not great tiger slayers per se. They were respected because they offered others the chance to bag a tiger. Woodyatt distinguished between those he regarded as 'selfish' and those directed by 'sportsmanship'. Sir John Hewett was known for his sportsmanship. Woodyatt recorded one conversation with Sir John Hewett. It was in 1911:

Hewett: " ... I hear you got a big tiger last week, Woodyatt? ... ".
Woodyatt: " ... Yes sir, a very good one. It measured 10.2 ... ".   
Hewett: " ... Ah, well! I have seen one hundred and forty-nine dead tiger measured, and only five of them were ten feet or over. I wonder how it was measured? ... ".  
Woodyatt: " ... By experienced men, but I was not myself present, etc. ... " (pp. 15).

Woodyatt's longest tiger was a very long one. Shooting in a party of nine, it initially wasn't clear who had fired the lethal shot: 

" ... The morning's strain was beginning to tell, enhanced by the great heat, and the suspence regarding the award. Lowis, calling aside No.4 'stop' and one gun from the line, walked off into the blue, while Gordon-Canning and the others went through the preparations for measurement. I felt I could not stick it any longer. The tiger looked enormous, and much bigger than any I had ever seen. It appeared as if the trophy must be mine, but still the question was not settled. Jack Lowis was most careful always to sift the matter thoroughly. Pulling out my pipe, I walked away into the river bed, and sat in some shade of grass. A quarter of an hour afterwards on my return Lowis met me. He took off his hat, made a little bow, put out his hand and said " ... Congratulations, ten feet two inches ... ". As I explained, I did not see the tiger measured, but I was told it was done between pegs ... " (pp. 69).

Measured 'over curves', Woodyatt's tiger must have been at least 10.6 (most probably 10.7 or a little more). Longer than the longest recorded by Sir John Hewett, that is. That a tiger of ten feet measured 'over curves' was considered as something out of the ordinary wasn't only confirmed by Sir John Hewett:       

" ... At the luncheon table was John Broun, I.C.S., then, I think Commissioner of the Meerut civil division. John was a great tiger slayer. He has probably shot a hundred. Our host appealed to him for his opinion. To my astonishment Broun said that out of all the tiger he had shot, not one measured ten feet. I am not at all sure he did not say that he had never seen one of that length shot by any one. I believe most of his shooting was in light jungle ... " (pp. 15).  


3 - The longest tigers

" ... Of the great number of tiger shot in the Bettiah jungles there was only one bigger than mine, and that was shot by a planter named Dixon a year later. The biggest tiger I know of, personally, was shot by Sir Bindon Blood in Nepal, and is recorded as 10.8 - an old friend of mine (Sir John Campbell, late Indian Civil Service), who gives me this measurement was present. He adds that the biggest tiger, all round, that he ever saw (he has been at the death of nearly two hundred) measured 10 feet 4 and a half inches.

A tigress is not as big as a tiger. I have never seen one that I estimated as over nine feet. Sir John Hewett saw the late Swan Kennard of the 15th Hussars kill one measuring 9 feet 6 inches. This is very unusual. Sir John adds that he never saw another over 9 feet 3 inches, and that the biggest tigress he ever shot himself was 9 feet 2 inches. The tigress I shot through the lungs as recorded on page 63, though she looked quite big, measured only 8 feet 6 inches.

In short, one may truly say that tigresses of nine feet and over are, like tigers of ten feet and over, extremely rare. If the young sportsman shoots a tiger which measures 9 feet 3 inches between pegs, as I have described, he should be more than satisfied. If he kills one three inches longer, he has shot a whopper ... " (pp. 15-16).

Although I'm not sure as to the 10.8 and the 10.4 and a half inch tiger, my guess is most measurements in the paragraph above were taken 'over curves'. This to show that 10 feet 'over curves' (9.7-9.8 'between pegs') was quite unusual in those days, even in a region known to produce large tigers. 

    
4 - On methods

Although Woodyatt thought that tigers could have been a bit larger in the past (because more of them had the opportunity to live to a great age), he also thought that most measurements of tigers reaching or exceeding ten feet in his day were unreliable. One reason was the method used often wasn't mentioned. Another was the method used wasn't applied in the correct way. 

This is how a tiger was measured 'over curves' in Woodyatt's (and Hewett's) day:

" ... The usual and natural way to measure a tiger is to lay the beast flat on its side, stretch it out, run a steel tape from the tip of its nose, between its ears, to the end of its tail, following as closely as possible the curves of the body ... " (pp. 13).

Sometimes, tigers were measured 'between pegs':

" ... The ideal way is to pull the animal on to its back, press down the head and stretch the tail. Then drive in a peg at its nose, and another at the tip of its tail. The tiger having been removed, the measurement between the pegs will give you the correct length ... " (pp. 13).

As to the difference in result between the two methods:

" ... The measurement taken by the first method is the one usually recorded. Sometimes the second method is employed, and occasionally both lengths are given. Measuring over the curves of the body might make an increase of some three or four inches in a medium-sized tiger, and proportionally more in na very big one.

It makes a good deal of difference what sort of tape is used (i.e., steel or other, old or new, repaired or whole, etc.). Also whether the measurement is taken generously along all curves, or very strictly. I say generously because I have known cases of an exceptionally big tiger, where there was a sympathetic tendency not to make the length an inch too short!

The second method (between the pegs) is the better one. Unfortunately it is not the adopted rule, and this leads to a great deal of confusion in records. Some noted sportsmen object to it (e.g., Sir John Hewett), becasue in the jungle, they say you can so seldom find a suitable level piece of ground on which to stretch out a tiger. There is something in this argument.

A dead tiger may weigh anything you like from 350 to 500 lbs., and stand three to three and a half feet at the shoulder, with a girth behind it of from forty to fifty-five inches. There was much talk of a tiger which weighed 700 lbs., and stood four feet high. I can hardly credit it. A huge beast like this is not easy to pick up and move about, in the hopes of finding a nice flat piece of ground. Nor can you delay too long, or rigor mortis will set in. Therefore it is not difficult to understand the inclination towards the first method of measurement. 
 
Certain localities are noted for their big tiger. The lighter the forest the smaller the tiger. I never saw a very long tiger in the Sawaliks (low hills below the Himalayas, in the U.P.), but they were usually very sturdy thick-set fellows ... " (pp. 13-14). 


5 - A few photographs

a - A Bettiah tiger

I don't know if this is the 10.2 tiger Woodyatt shot (I don't think so, as all photographs were made by others), but there's no question it is a large male typical for that region:


*This image is copyright of its original author


b - A wounded tiger mauling an elephant:


*This image is copyright of its original author


c - A jungle tragedy:


*This image is copyright of its original author
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Messages In This Thread
RE: ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - TIGERS (Panthera tigris) - peter - 10-29-2015, 02:21 AM
Demythologizing T16 - tigerluver - 04-12-2020, 11:44 AM
Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-28-2014, 09:54 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-28-2014, 10:02 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-29-2014, 12:56 AM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - peter - 07-29-2014, 07:05 AM
Tiger recycling bin - Roflcopters - 09-04-2014, 01:36 AM
RE: Tiger recycling bin - Pckts - 09-04-2014, 02:22 AM
RE: Tiger recycling bin - Roflcopters - 09-05-2014, 01:01 AM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 10:07 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 10:57 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 11:33 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 02-19-2015, 11:25 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - GuateGojira - 02-23-2015, 11:36 AM
Status of tigers in India - Shardul - 12-20-2015, 03:23 PM
RE: Tiger Directory - Diamir2 - 10-03-2016, 04:27 AM
RE: Tiger Directory - peter - 10-03-2016, 06:22 AM
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RE: Tiger Predation - peter - 11-11-2017, 08:08 AM
RE: Man-eaters - Wolverine - 12-03-2017, 11:30 AM
RE: Man-eaters - peter - 12-04-2017, 09:44 AM
RE: Tigers of Central India - Wolverine - 04-13-2018, 01:17 AM
RE: Tigers of Central India - qstxyz - 04-13-2018, 08:34 PM
RE: Size comparisons - peter - 07-16-2019, 05:28 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 05-20-2021, 07:13 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - Nyers - 05-21-2021, 08:02 PM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 05-22-2021, 08:09 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - GuateGojira - 04-06-2022, 12:59 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 01:08 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 09:08 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 11:30 PM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 04-08-2022, 07:27 AM



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