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

peter Offline
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( This post was last modified: 11-27-2018, 07:46 AM by peter )

(11-07-2018, 08:05 PM)epaiva Wrote:
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B

A - ON THE FIRST MAIL (see above) OF MS. OLGA KRASNYKH, OWNER OF THE BOHAI TOUR AGENCY

In order to find out a bit more about tigers and brown bears in the Russian Far East, Epaiva contacted someone in the know in Russia. Good initiative, Epaiva! Ms. Olga Krahnykh, owner of the Bohay Tour Agency, decided to respond. Many thanks, Olga Krasnykh!

Two of her ideas (tigers and noses and tigers expelling brown bears), resulted in a few frowns.

Noses (a1) first. Those who read Jim Corbett's books know he wrote about noses as well. Males in particular do not like to be struck on the nose, he said. Could be related to smelling and could be related to something else. The trainers I interviewed confirmed that adult male tigers, lions and bears, and tigers in particular, are quite sensitive regarding their nose.   

Tigers expelling brown bears (a2). Those interested in Amur tigers and Ussuri brown bears know that adult males of both species avoid serious problems. In the article recently discussed in this thread, researchers again concluded that male tigers do not hunt adult male bears. They also didn't find solid evidence of male brown bears displacing male tigers. Not in the period 1992-2013, that is. I know of a number of exceptions, but this seems to be the general rule.

In adult females, the situation is more complicated. Male brown bears, and the occasional large male Himalayan black bear, rob tigresses at times. They also 'share' meals with tigresses. Tigresses followed by male brown bears at times attack them in order to defend their cubs. Tigresses have been killed, but incidents of that nature are few and far between. 

More often than the other way round, tigers attack bears. Although Bromlej saw a quite large, but youngish brown bear (estimated at about 170 kg.) killed and eaten by a tigress, adult male tigers in particular hunt brown bears. Although most target immature brown bears, adult females are hunted as well. Doesn't happen often, but it's not very rare. In the article recently discussed in this thread (see above), researchers found 2 immature and 5 adult female brown bears killed by male tigers.

In the north- (close to Chabarowsk) and southwest (close to China), bears are hunted more often. In some seasons, they are as important as deer and wild boars. Time to find out a bit more about tigers hunting bears.

B - THE BOL'SHEKHEKTIRSKII RESERVE AND ITS ENVIRONS (K.N. Tkatchenko)

Here's an abstract I made some years ago. It's entirely based on 'Specific features of feeding of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica (Carnivora, Felidae) in a densely populated locality (with reference to Bol'shekhektirskii Reserve and its environs', that was published in 2012.  


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C - FOOD HABITS OF AMUR TIGERS AT THREE SITES IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Here's a few scans of 'A comparison of food habits and prey preference of Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica, Temminck, 1884) at three sites in the Russian Far East', that was discussed more than once:


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D - THE SICHOTE-ALIN RESERVE AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOODS

Here's two scans of the article on the interspecific relationships between amur tigers and brown and Himalayan black bears that was recently discussed in this thread: 


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E - BART SCHLEYER

Bart Schleyer was involved in the Siberian Tiger Project (STP) some time ago. Most unfortunately, he died well before his time. This orbituary was posted some years ago (this thread). In order to keep the length of the post limited, I decided for scans of the first and last page:


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F - CONCLUSIONS

The Russian Far East is the only region where Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), Himalayan black bears (Ursus thibetanus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos lasiotus) co-exist. It's the only region where tigers habitually hunt bears.

Research says that bears are an important food item for tigers, especially in summer. In some regions and seasons, bears are as important as deer and wild boars.  

Today, there about 550-600 wild Amur tigers and at least 10 000 brown bears in the Russian Far East. Although the effect of predation on the brown bear population is limited, the number of adult female brown bears killed by tigers is relatively high in some parts of the Russian Far East. 

Brown bears are hunted by adult male tigers in particular. Research suggests that some male tigers develop into bear specialists. The tiger known as 'Dale' was one, but it's likely there are more. As specialists most probably target quite large bears (up to 150-200 kg. according to researchers), one has to assume that brown bears will respond over time.

Is it, as Ms. Olga Krasnykh suggested, likely that tigers 'expelled' brown bears in some districts or regions? According to the scientists working in the Leopard Land National Park, it is. This is a quote from the last post of Ms. Krasnykh in the thread 'Bear and big cat interactions in the wild':

" ... I have interesting info for you. Yesterday I had a dinner with the scientists from Leopard Land National Park and asked them a question about tigers and bears. And I was very surprised that they agree with my assumption that tigers expelled brown bears ... " (post 177 in the thread 'Bear and big cat interactions in the wild').

" ... Tigers kill a lot of brown bear cubs, that's why their population is much less than in Kamchatka and other Russian regions. That's what our scientists say ... " (post 177).

Is this new information? Yes.

One respected member of this forum overdid it somewhat when he said Ms. Krasnykh was a bit 'sloppy' regarding the tigers-expel-bears remark. A bit disappointing, I thought. On a public forum, good debates are vital. Debates are about the free exchange of information and ideas. One of the fundamentals of the debate is mutual respect. At all times. Was Ms. Olga Krasnykh 'sloppy'? Far from it.

G - TO CONCLUDE 

g1 - Male tigers and female brown bears

According to Bart Schleyer, all bears attacked by tigers were killed. All were killed with a bite to the base of the skull, severing the spine. Based on 'visual evidence', Russian researchers estimated that the largest females ranged between 150-200 kg. (330-441 pounds). In two cases, the fight was prolonged.

I never saw a skull of a wild male Amur tiger, but I did measure quite a few skulls of captive adult males. I also saw a number of brown bear skull from Canada, including those of adult females. Would an adult male Amur tiger be able to quickly kill an adult female brown bear with a bite to the base of the skull? Based on what I saw, the answer is affirmative.

Here's a photograph showing the skull of what must have been a large male liger and a large female brown bear. According to the one who posted the photograph, the sow was 800 pounds:


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Skulls of adult male brown bears are larger than skulls of adult female brown bears. This skull (Romania, 1935) had a greatest total length of 393 mm. and a zygomatic width of 247 mm. (weight 2,284 kg.). The skull is in the Hungarian Natural History Museum:  


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g2 - Amur tiger, female brown bear and cub

Found this on the internet some time ago. Nice drawing: 


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g3 - Did the new info provided by Ms. Olga Krasnykh change my opinion on tigers and brown bears in the Russian Far East?

In a way. It was known that male Amur tigers hunt brown bears up to the size of adult females. It's not surprising that female brown bears with cubs would respond. Leaving a district with a bear specialist seems a good decision when you have cubs.  

I would be interested in more information about the relationship between adult males of both species. Could be a bit different than many assume. Researchers also seem to think so: a number of them adjusted their opinion on tigers and bears over the years.

For now, we have to make do with the opinions of naturalists, biologists, rangers and locals. Not bad at all, but in the end we need reliable documents.  

Ms. Olga Krasnykh no doubt is in the know on tigers and bears. Furthermore, she has to opportunity to talk to others living close to tigers and bears all the time. We're very interested in what she has to say. Thanks again for the info, Ms. Krasnykh. Keep it coming.
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Messages In This Thread
RE: ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris) - peter - 11-24-2018, 06:51 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
Genetics of all tiger subspecies - parvez - 07-15-2017, 01:08 PM
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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