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

[peter]

I propose to start with the article Warsaw posted in the Shaggy God forum. It's in Russian, so you have to use the translation machine. The combination between the machine and Russian isn't, ehhh, perfect, but we should get quite close: 

http://deita.ru/news/incidents/16.12.201...skiy-tigr/

Let's see where we can get. One is the article says the pad width of both tigers was used to conclude they were males. At least, that's what I read. Does this perhaps mean the genitals of the tiger killed were removed? I don't know.

Let's go to the pad width of males and females. Is it true only adult male tigers have a pad width of 9,5 cm. and over in Russia? Not quite. I remember some females with a pad width of 9.5 cm. and one has to assume maybe some tigresses can get over that mark, especially in the southern part of Russia, where tigers seem to be a little larger than in the north.

If true, this means one of the tigers (the winner of the fight) could have been a female after all. But if this was to be true, how is it possible that she killed a male tiger? I mean, the dead tiger, with a pad width of 11,0 cm., had to be a male, hadn't it? Well, part of the answer is in the article in that it says the dead tiger had hardly any teeth left. He had to be very old, that is. Furthermore, we know the tiger killed, if it was a male, was an exceptionally small animal. Maybe he was starved as well.

Could it, based on the information in the article, have been a fight between a very old and small male and a big female in her prime? Yes. The incident happened in December. This is the time in which Amur tigers mate. Maybe the old male was interested and maybe the female, because of his age, wasn't. Let's suppose it was a fight between a male and a female. It happened before. We also know females are capable of killing an adult male. Finally, we know tigers, females included, eat what they kill. Problem solved. 

On the other hand. It is just as likely the old male fought a younger male. There's one more option and that is it can't be ruled out both tigers were females. This, I think, would explain the small size of the supposed 'male' better.

To conclude with. I agree the tiger killed was a very small animal. The length of the hind legs and the tail suggest a small female. If we add the teeth were nearly gone, we can add it apparently was a very old animal. Perhaps it was a small and very old female after all. The only problem left would be the the pad width. A width of 11,0 cm. is unheard of, even in large females. What to say about that? Well, one thing is they could have made a mistake. If they didn't, we have a problem. I could, perhaps, accept a pad width of 11,0 cm. in a very large female, but we know from the photograph the tiger, male or female, was a small one. Impossible, that is.

The best explanation would be a mistake. The article wasn't written by a researcher, but a journalist. Journalists are known for mistakes. Also, the photograph isn't a good one in that it wasn't clear if the animal killed was a male. The article said the tiger was partly eaten, but it didn't say what was eaten and to what extent. There are many questions.

For now, I propose to wait for more. They want to locate the winner of the fight to see if he or she was wounded. A wounded tiger, after all, could pose a problem for humans. My guess is there could be another article soon. Maybe the questions we have will be answered then. Reply