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

[peter]

(02-03-2015, 02:58 AM)'GrizzlyClaws' Wrote: Holy craps, these guys are huge, and i love to see those huge bears regardless it is brown or polar.

That pic was saved.


 

Tell us a bit more about the tiger canine you posted.

The biggest upper canines I measured, at the insertion of the jaw, were just over 30,00 mm. in width (diameter, straight line measurement). I never extracted the upper canines in order to measure them from tip to tip because I didn't want to damage the skulls, some of which were very old. I measured upper canine length from the insertion in the upper jaw to the tip in a straight line. 

The longest belonged to captive male Amur tigers and most were just about 30,00 mm. or a bit over at the insertion in the upper jaw. In relatives, however, the upper canines in skulls of captive Indian male tigers were as robust or a trifle better. Although I saw more than one male lion skull with very robust upper canines, they usually lack a bit in this department.

There are many differences between skulls of wild and captive big cats. I'm not yet done, but my guess is one of the most striking differences could be upper canine length and width. Although Amur tigers top the list in absolutes, Sunda tigers, and those from Sumatra in particular, seem to top the list for relatives. Reply