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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: 12-01-2014, 01:37 AM by peter )

TIGERS AND BEARS IN RUSSIA - IX

Tigers and brown bears make for a good topic. The Russian Far East is the only place where both meet and interact. It isn't Jurassic Park, but I wouldn't say they indulge in conversations either. At times, these giants clash.

The next posts will be about facts, tables and opinions of people 'in the know', most of these hunters and researchers. Comments will be offered at times, but it is about authentic and first-hand information foremost.


01 - A table based on information collected by V. Abramov (1962). First posted by Warsaw on AVA:



*This image is copyright of its original author
  


02 - A two or three-year old Amur tiger strangled by a brown bear in the Schuchi-Pokto Reserve close to Chabarowsk in the late fall of 1956.

The exact age isn't known. In the text, Mazak, who published the photograph in his book (1983, pp. 120-121), wrote the tiger was about 3 years of age, but the liner notes below the photograph say it was a two-year old animal (...). My guess is the tiger was closer to two years of age. The reason is young Amur tigers disperse when they are about 18 months of age. The tiger died defending a wild boar his mother had left him. The photograph is from the archive of V.K. Abramov, but the incident was first mentioned by Krivopusk (1957).

Judging from the photograph, the young tiger could have been a male. He also was eaten by the bear. Mazak wrote incidents like this one also happened in the 1959-1960 winter and in the fall of 1960 in Sichote-Alin. Some of the incidents Mazak mentioned were described in detail in Heptner and Sludskij's great book 'Mammals of the Sowjet-Union'. Below is a part I translated regarding this incident:

" ... Young tigers perish more often than adults. They are killed by male tigers, brown bears and other predators. In 1956, there was a crop failure in Birobidshan. As a result, wild boars struggled. In the late fall, many brown bears were unable to hibernate as a result of a shortage of food, They turned into hungry wanderers roaming the taiga ('Schatuns'). One of these attacked a three-year old tiger in the taiga near Chingan in the Schuchi-Pokto Reserve. Judging from the traces in the snow, the following happened: 

A tigress feeding the relatively large young tiger had attacked a sounder of wild pigs and killed one. She left the wild pig for the young tiger and moved on. When she had left, a 'Schatun' found the wild boar and the tiger. Judging from the trampled soil, the pieces of hair and the many red-coloured stains in the snow, there was a fight which was won by the bear. He ate as much as he could and covered his hard-won wild boar when he left. He returned more than once. After he had finished the wild boar, he started on the tiger. During his meal, he was disturbed by humans (Krivopusk, 1957). We already discribed another incident in which such a bear (a 'Schatun') fought and killed an adult tigress in Sichote-Alin. In 1960, a young tiger was killed in a fight with a bear in the Sichote-Alin Reserve (V. Abramov, 1962) ... "
(pp. 156-157).

On page 167, Heptner and Sludskij published a drawing of the photograph below. It's a very good one from N.N. Kondakov, who used the photograph below. The liner notes below the drawing say the tiger was three years of age. As their book was published before Mazak's book (1980 vs. 1983), I propose to go with them for now. In spite of that, I think the tiger was closer to two years of age. The reason is Amur tigers disperse at about 18 months of age (see below). Young females often settle close to or even in the territory of their mother, but young males usually walk long distances when they disperse. 

Regarding the young tiger killed in the Sichote-Alin Reserve in 1960 (I'm not referring to the tiger below). This incident is mentioned in many books. I'm not sure, but it could be Sysoev (see the previous posts on tigers and bears in Russia in this thread) was the one who actually saw the fight. Sysoev was the one who reported on the incident in a Russian newspaper in 1960. His story ('Amba'), published in 1964, according to poster Alexious3 (AVA), could have been based on this incident. Alexious also thought the male tiger killed by a male brown bear in 'Amba' wasn't a young animal, as I suggested, but just a male. This opinion, of course, contradicts the facts, as the tiger killed in 1960 was a young male. If Sysoev used the fight he might have witnessed in 1960, the tiger was a young male.  

The story on the young tiger below, as you noticed, is long and different from the young male killed in 1960 in the Sichote-Alin Reserve. You now know the details of the young male killed in 1956:         



*This image is copyright of its original author



03 - Here's some information about the age young Amur tigers disperse. The male below, who dispersed at just over 24 months, was exceptional. Most young Amur tigers disperse at 18-20 months:  [/i]



*This image is copyright of its original author



04 - A non-hibernating brown bear or 'Schatun'. This animal, not small by any means (watch the man in the far left), starved to death in the Russian winter.

On his way to starvation, the bear must have been desperate. Non-hibernating brown bears are the ones who attack tigers at times. Most fights between brown bears and tigers happen in winter. This means 'Schatuns' were involved. The photograph was first posted by Warsaw on AVA:



*This image is copyright of its original author
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Messages In This Thread
RE: ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - TIGERS (Panthera tigris) - peter - 11-28-2014, 05:51 PM
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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