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

[Pckts]

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5 - IN WHAT WAY IS ROBUSTNESS EXPRESSED IN TIGERS?

Based on all measurements I have, I'd say neck, chest and, perhaps, skull width and skull circumference. Not total skull length, legs, shoulders and total length. The reason? Large and robust tigers hunt large prey animals. What do you need to subdue, kill and move large animals? A strong and dense skull and a large neck. Would make sense, as tigers use their skull to connect, hold, subdue, kill, move and eat. The large neck, I think, isn't a result of the large skull, but of the movement of large animals.

Amur tigers have slightly longer skulls, but the captive skulls I saw are not as wide and massive as those of captive Indian tigers. Could be different in wild tigers, but I think the differences would be limited. Wild Amur tigers also do not kill and move large animals, because they just are not there anymore.

And legs? I noticed that even captive Amur tigers have longer and more robust legs than all other big cats. Why is that? Russia has no really large prey animals, does it? True, but brown bears and wild boar are there and they are sometimes hunted. Both animals are massive and difficult to subdue. Big legs allow a tiger to wrestle and to twist.

But why is it Indian tigers hunting much larger animals have smaller legs? Well, the giants they hunt do not have to be wrestled down. They need to be jumped, held and killed quickly. Some tigers, like the 'Killer of Men', use their legs to twist and turn, but Indian tigers could use their jaws and skull more often. Hence the robust and dense skull. Amur tigers need a long skull as a platform for very large canines and large jaw muscles in order to bite and penetrate, but not for pressure matches. Indian tigers do, because they have to suffocate large animals (the only way to kill a large animal). This takes many minutes and it needs a lot of force to succeed, which results in a lot of stress. Hence the wide skull and the dense bones.

Amur tigers need large paws, large legs, agility and, to an extent, endurance. The jaws are more used for stabbing and penetrating. Hence the very large canines. They bite again and again in order to penetrate and hit an artery or the spine. I'm not sure, but I don't think they go for suffocating when their opponent is a large boar or bear. The reason is these animals have large necks. Goodrich, indirectly, confirmed in that he concluded all bears killed by tigers were killed with a single bite at the base of the neck. This is effective with smaller animals (most tigers had about a hundred pounds on the bears killed).

I doubt if it would work with animals of similar or larger weight, because of the reason mentioned (a larger neck, which results in more time needed and more risks). When they fight animals of similar or larger weight, therefore, Amur tigers need a different strategy. I wouldn't be surprised to find that experienced tigers use their forelegs to twist or turn the neck of their opponent in order to create a position which enables them to penetrate the neck with their canines. But in order to have a chance, you need surprise as well as experience (in order to know where to bite). And you need very muscular arms in order to get to a good position more than once (as once won't be enough). This is also what V. Mazak suggested regarding Amur tigers and bears of similar or larger size. But that is another story.
 

I know that myself and Tigerluver both agree that Body length seemed to show the best correalation to body weight from the measurements I have seen. Exceptions always exist, but from most of the measurements I have seen, that  usually the largest weight's belonged to the longer tigers, same with most of the larger chest girth's.

I am curious about limb length and girth, I know both bengal and amur are very close in sholder height and I think that most bengals I have seen seem to have the larger limb girth while slightly shorter at the shoulder. But I have not seen many Amur measurements to know for sure.



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