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

[peter]

Quality post all the way, Diamir2. Much appreciated and many thanks for the links to the articles.

I knew the young tigers had been observed in the facility where they were prepared to start a life in the wild, but couldn't find anything. The observations of Blidchenko are very interesting. She explained in what way young Amur tigers use and divide space and how they appreciate and judge situations. 

The experiment proves that young tigers without parents can be prepared for a life in the wild, provided the conditions are right. It also confirms the observation of Kerley and others, who wrote Amur tiger cubs disperse when they reach 18-20 months. Remarkable, as the conditions are far from easy in eastern Russia. 

I've read books written by people who found orphaned cubs of wild big cats. They took them home, kept them away from other people and trained them in the way their parents would. This means they walked the cubs through what would become their territory every day for many hours. In this way, the cubs got crucial information and grew in confidence. At times, their new 'parent' even had to defend them from other big cats. Later, the favour often was returned. To keep the story short: all cubs, except for a young male lion who was shot by trophy 'hunters', made it to adulthood and all of them did well. Every now and then, one of them returned to her (in most cases, the cubs were females) dad to lead him to her cubs. He wrote it was a great privilege. Billy Arjan Singh had a similar experience with a leopardess in northern India. She brought her cubs to his place during a flood.

Orphaned cubs of big cats can be prepared to become wild animals in the way done in Russia, and it can be done in the way described above. The experiment in Russia shows the cubs don't need humans to succeed, meaning orphaned cubs of big cats could have more knowledge than we think. And knowledge is different from instinct. This confirms the observations of those who described the big cats as thinking animals. The only thing they really need when they're on they own and very young is protection and food.

I was a bit surprised to read that Boris, at his age, was prepared, and able, to handle bears of similar age. The 2-year old bear he killed last year most probably was a brown bear, whereas the identity of the 3-year old bear he recently killed has yet to be determined. If the bear really was about 3 years of age, chances are it also was a brown bear.  

I'll ask the mods to move a copy of your post to the extinction thread, as it has crucial information on behaviour and food of young Amur tigers. Apollo's great thread is about individuals, whereas the extinction thread is intended for general information.

I got more questions on tigers and bears, but will use the extinction thread for the reason explained above. Thanks again. Reply