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

[peter]

A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO MALE AMUR TIGERS

When I visited Grahh's forum Shaggy God (yes, bears) in order to locate a post with information on a book apparently published by one the Jankowski's recently, I found this photograph. It was posted by Warsaw on January 15 of this year. The post also has a short article. It's in Russian, but you can use the translator.

The article says there was a fight between two male tigers in eastern Russia recently. One was a male with a front pad width of 11 cm. Most of his teeth were missing or worn down, which means he was very old and close to the end of the ride. His opponent had a front pad width of 9,5 cm. only, which means he probably was far from maturity. In spite of the lack of age and experience, the youngster won the fight. A bit unusual maybe, but there are more reliable reports about young male tigers (2-4 years old) beating older adversaries, both in the wild and in captivity.

The tiger in the picture seems a bit small for an old male, but that's because a significant part of him was consumed by his opponent. A tiger usually eats what he kills and cannibalism isn't unknown in big cats. Far from it, I would say. Besides, it was winter and food is scarce. There's a bit of psychology as well. There's nothing as satisfactory as consuming your enemy after a good fight. In this way, you get a decent reward for a risky undertaking in a difficult time. Furthermore, you'll take the courage of your opponent as well.

Courage? If you doubt my words, read a bit about humans. Say one century ago. Many Europeans who visited villages in wild places noticed fear was quite common. The reason was other villages. Raids were common in those days. It usually was about the abduction of women and children, but men killed during these raids were considered as extra. Slain enemies usually were decapitated and/or (partly) eaten. To get the courage as well as a few other things. It was quite popular and my guess is many would continue the habit given half the chance. Go to New-Guinea and learn a bit if you are interested.      

But one has to admit big cats are better at it. I read reports about fights between male tigers in India and the details described were astonishing. I'll post some reports in the future: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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