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

[Shardul]

I read man eaters of Kumaon a few years back and in that Jim Corbett mentions the Bachelor of Powelgarh measured 10'7" meaning it was the biggest tiger he shot. Another tiger called the Pipal Pani tiger was 10'3". He also shot a few more tigers over ten feet. All were over curves. So I think the maximum length of a tiger should be 10'6" over curves or a little over 10' between pegs. 

Corbett also says that tigers of kumaon (present day Corbett National Park) reached 10' more often than tigers in other parts of India. Maybe that is where the talk of tigers from Northern areas being bigger than those from other parts originated. Interestingly he never weighed any tigers nor mentioned weight of any tiger anywhere. I find it surprising that he would take so much pain to measure carefully several times the tigers he shot, just to make sure he didn't make any mistakes in his measurement. But never actually weighed them. It's not like the tigers were left where they were shot, they were lifted and transported, so why not weigh them?

@peter,

Do you know why it was always length that was the yardstick for size and not anything else, in the hunter records? Reply