Big cat and Bear tale

[peter]

Could you post the story (or the link) in the tiger-extinction thread (without the last part of the post) as well? The reason I ask is I posted quite extensively on Vaillant's great book in that thread some time ago. I'd like the info on his book in one place in order to prevent readers to switch from one thread to another.

Based on the photograph in Vaillants book, I'd say the tiger wasn't exceptional in size. Many thought he was, because they never saw a bigger one in that district. That, however, is not surprising. Male Amur tigers often are quite a bit larger than adult females, they have large territories and can reach 12-15 years of age. The only tigers one expects to see in the territory of an adult male would be females, cubs and a few immatures.   

The tiger in Vaillants book still was in good shape when he was wounded and robbed by Markov. This is why he responded to the challenge. Vaillant was amazed, but those in the know wouldn't have been. Not all Amur tigers will deliberately target humans who hunt or wound them, but the Udege didn't take any risks and they had a lot of experience. Researchers who sedated wild Amur tigers never saw anything close to what Vaillant described, but they forget they didn't intend to harm the tigers. Things can, and did, go wrong at times, but it is about the intention and this is something many just don't take very seriously.

Anyway. Good find and interesting read. Many thanks, Brotherbear!


EDIT

I saw you posted the link in the tiger-extinction thread already. Many thanks again,

Peter. Reply