There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
04-19-2015, 10:53 AM( This post was last modified: 04-19-2015, 11:13 AM by GuateGojira )
Just a little of theory for the discussion:
Mazák (1981) estimated that a female Sumatran tigress weight between 75 - 110 kg, but it seems that he doesn't discriminated about wild and captive animals, also he doesn't published the source of his data on body size and weights. Barlow (2009; from Slaght et al. (2005)) stated that captive Sumatran tigresses average 86.7 kg (n=21; range: 61.9 - 107.3 kg). It seems that the estimation of Mazák of c.110 kg (if its an estimation) seems somewhat correct, at least for captive specimens.
I think that maybe wild Sumatran tigresses could reach a little more, just like male Sumatran tigers do: Mazák (1981) stated a maximum of 140 for male ones, but the heaviest wild tiger from the island, captured by scientists, weighed 148.2 kg (Slamet).
Taking all these data, I can't believe a figure of 152 kg for a female one, despite its posible large size and skull dimensions. I propose to email the author(s) of the document, let's see what they say. Remember the case of the "250 kg" Suamtran tiger in an official document, that at the end, it resulted in a mistake and the figure was probably in "pounds".
Edit: I think that I have found the problem. A quick research in some books and in the Internet and I have found that the weight of 9.7 kg for a seval fits more in the range of females rater than males. Probably that is the mistake, that the tiger was a male and the serval was a female. Yes, this could be just a wild idea, but I am going to write to Dr Diogo to clarify the issue.