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

[peter]

THE CAPTIVE AMUR TIGER I MEASURED IN 1996

This video belongs in the section on captive animals, but I decided to post it here. It is one of a series of four on seven circus tigers. 

This is their story. One day, during a show, one of the male Amur tigers escaped. There was a panic, but the trainer was able to prevent problems. When he had guided the male back to the cage and stumbled when he entered, the tiger panicked and bit once. That one bite ended two lives, as the tiger was immediately shot.

After the death of the trainer, the tigers had no place to go to. After 7 weeks, they were accepted by the rescue centre in the Netherlands I visited every now and then. The director invited me to measure and weigh the tigers. I got all the help I needed.

In this video, tiger Arames was treated. At 194,0 cm. in head and body and 298,0 cm. in total length in a straight line (312,5 cm. 'over curves'), he was the longest. As a result of the many weeks of shortage, all tigers were completely starved and weightwise well below par. Arames was 185,5 kg. when we weighed him. The other two males were a bit shorter, stockier and heavier. One of the two was 211 kg. when he was weighed many years later at Schiphol Airport.

For those interested, I'm not in the video. The best view of the Amur tiger is after about 6 minutes:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wylE2kgUJnU&feature=relmfu Reply