Tiger Predation

[Apex Titan]

(07-21-2022, 08:34 PM)LonePredator Wrote:

(07-21-2022, 06:48 PM)Apex Titan Wrote:

(07-19-2022, 08:21 PM)Bitishannah Wrote:

(07-19-2022, 05:25 PM)Apex Titan Wrote:

(07-18-2022, 10:17 PM)Bitishannah Wrote:

(07-18-2022, 05:35 PM)Apex Titan Wrote: Indo-chinese tiger with his adult gaur kill:

Tigress and cubs with a bull gaur kill:

Aren't gaur in Indochinese region larger than those of other parts of Asia?

Yes, Indochinese gaur, along with Indian gaur are the largest gaurs on earth.

Interestingly, although Indochinese tigers are smaller than Bengal tigers, they routinely hunt and kill both adult gaur and banteng:

"HKK has South‐East Asia's highest diversity of large ungulates which include gaur, banteng, sambar, and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis); together these species compose 90.3% of tiger diet."

Based on the average sex and age class weights, and the number of kills in each class, the average weight of adult gaur kills was 737.8 kg and they composed 83.7% of the biomass of gaur killed by tigers. Similarly, the mean adult banteng killed weighted 652.2 kg and adults composed 85.6% of biomass of this species killed by tigers. Adults composed 48.8% of gaur and 79.4% of banteng killed by male tigers; whereas, adult gaur and banteng composed 41.1% and 37.8% of female kills, respectively."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6268

That's interesting. This must destroy the myths of tigers being deer specialist, having less strength, incapable of hunting large prey because they have long, less thick canines which could break easily unlike that of more stronger bodied,  stout canine lions.

I am not diverting topic. This topic is strictly tiger predation and in turn it helps us appreciate how these animals work, and also dispel misconceptions like these.

All studies on tiger feeding habits and predatory behaviour invariably show that tigers always go after the largest prey animals available. Wherever gaur, banteng and wild water buffalo are abundant, tigers routinely hunt them, and these large bovines are one of the tigers top favourite prey items.

Even the small Javan tigers weighing only 100 - 140 kg were known to routinely prey on adult Banteng, and also killed huge Banteng bulls weighing up to 825 kg! (Seidenstecker).

Gaur and especially wild water buffalo have been historically wiped out from many tiger reserves and regions, hence why tigers have to settle for deer and wild boar. Its all humans fault, as usual. 

Tigers are true big game specialists, their size, anatomy, musculature and weaponry is specifically built for hunting, subduing and killing large dangerous prey animals several times their own size and weight. This is why tigers, being solitary hunters of big game animals, have the longest and thickest canines of any extant terrestrial carnivore on earth.

This basically sums up the tiger:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://archive.org/details/bigcatskingdomof0000brak

Karanth explains why it is more efficient and easier for tigers to hunt and kill large animals (Gaur, buffalo) instead of smaller animals (deer). In Nagarahole, where gaur are abundant, tigers routinely hunt and kill them, favouring gaur over the much smaller spotted deer. Whereas in other forests, where gaur are very scarce or extinct, tigers have to settle for hunting deer:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/T...frontcover

Hello, I have seen the data you present about Tigers preying on animals which most people think they’re not capable of and it’s simply amazing.

I wanted to ask, do you have a study from Karanth & Sunquist where it was shown that Tigers preyed on a sample of Gaurs which included several bulls of 1000kg??

I think the same study also showed that a significant percentage of the sample of the preyed Gaurs were adult males.

I am unable to find it, do you happen to have it and can you please share it?

Here's some sources stating that tigers prey on bull gaurs weighing 1000 kg. I'll post more data from Karanth and Sunquist when I have time.

Karanth and Sunquist state: In India's Nagarahole, gaurs are the main prey of tigers, including bulls weighing 1000 kg:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/do...1&type=pdf

*This image is copyright of its original author

This source was initially posted by GuateGojira in another thread:

"In Nagarahole National Park, the average weight of 83 tiger kills was 401 kg. This sample included several gaur weighing 1000 kg." (Sunquist, Wild Cats of the World):

*This image is copyright of its original author

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