Captive Lion and Tiger weights

[peter]

Good information PC, but difficult to assess as most entries are healthy and well-fed adults. What about the others? Any population has young adults, prime, old, small, big as well as gorged and empty animals. In some averages, the 'normal' amount of variation is included, whereas it isn't in others.  

Captive big cats, like their wild counterparts, show a lot of variation. I saw healthy adult male Amur tigers of 350 pounds or thereabout in their prime. They are just as a-typical as 650-pound males. Same for Indian tigers, although they show less variation than Amurs (in wild animals, it's the other way round). There are no reliable averages for captive animals, but my take for now is captive male Amur tigers top the list in all departments with some male lions quite close. From what I saw and read, the differences between Indian tigers and Kruger lions are limited (captive animals).   

There are no captive Indian tigers in European zoos. Some trainers, however, have descendants of Indian tigers. It is to be expected these tigers will disappear in the near future, because they can't be used in the circus any longer.   

Panthera tigris americana (referring to Indian tigers in American zoos), to me, seem different from Panthera tigris tigris. My guess is most are a mix of Amur and Indian tigers. Big animals in most cases, but I wouldn't say they is Indian tigers until we know a bit more.

As a general rule, circus lions and tigers are healthier and bigger than big cats in zoos. Another general rule is lions adapt better to captivity than tigers. They lose less in character and often are a bit bigger than their wild relatives. In tigers, apart from captive Amurs, the opposite seems to be true.

Those who could know all agreed captive big cats are a mere shadow of their wild counterparts. This seems to be more true for tigers than for lions, because the essence of lions (defending a territory by living in family groups) is maintained in captivity to an extent, whereas the essence of tigers (solitary hunters) is completely lost in captivity. Reply