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

[GrizzlyClaws]

(04-26-2018, 04:03 AM)peter Wrote:

(04-25-2018, 12:45 PM)Richardrli Wrote: Peter, what is your estimated rostrum width for the skull of the Koln zoo man-killer? It looks like 122.74mm, can you confirm?

Almost (122,725 mm.).

Remember the measurements I got to didn't include the distortion caused by the slope. The skull is low close to the occiput and more elevated at the rostrum. The slope (not visible on the photograph) will decrease the length somewhat. 

Another factor to consider is asymmetry. The skull seems to be 'pulled' to the right (typical for quite many skulls of captive big cats), which also slightly decreases the length. 

As a result, the distance from tip to tip (not including the teeth) could be a tad longer than it seems. The length I got to (slightly over 430mm.), therefore, is at the lower end of the range. It is the longest tiger skull I know of by a margin.  

The width (about 284 mm.) doesn't seem to fit the length, but the tiger only was four years of age when he was shot (width is related to age) and skulls of captive Amur tigers often are not as wide (and robust) as skulls of (captive) Indian tigers.

EDIT

In the past years, I more than once said that size has been neglected in big cats. Tigers in particular are affected. The lack of good information resulted in incorrect conclusions in many books and articles. It also resulted in a lack of understanding. Although the reasons are well understood, this problem needs to be addressed. 

The young adult male Amur tiger from the Koln zoo, although large, isn't the only large captive Amur tiger. I saw larger tigers and I'm also sure I saw captive Amur tigers with larger and wider heads. This means that 430 mm. most probably isn't the upper limit. We need to have more information on the difference between wild and captive tigers and we also need yo know more about the factors affecting (skull and body) size in tigers (and other big cats, for that matter).

The rostrum of this tiger skull looks much broader, and I think the rostrum of the skull can be estimated with the ratio of the canine alveoli.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply