Tigers of Ranthambore & Western India Landscape

[Rishi]

(12-19-2018, 02:36 PM)Pckts Wrote: I dont agree that a taller or longer tiger would be advantageous for hunting smaller prey. The prey available in Ranth. Is available in all other reserves as well so I dont think there would be a morphological change in Tigers in Ranth. But no where else.

No no. Not smaller prey, faster & weaker... A taller & longer & slimmer tiger is a better sprinter.

Unlike Tadoba or Terai or the Ghats, where the main source of food are sambar & gaurs, especially for males, here it's mainly cheetals & pigs. It's similar in Corbett too & tall, slender tigers are commonly seen there as well...
On top of that, just outside Ranthambore & Mukundara CTR the vegetation quickly changes from dry-deciduous to thickets & thorn forest (see the new map in previous post) making it even harder to ambush hunt.

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In Kanha or Chitwan, a big strong male who can wrestle down gaurs & buffalos will find the bulk to be an edge, with no drawbacks, as food is always plenty.
Here, he won't really have much use for it, but it may hold him back in the survival race when life gets tough.

Muscle mass is costly...biologically. And this area is India's most drought prone zone. If it doesn't rain for 5 years straight, the muscular hunk could be having a hard time to avoid death by starvation & may get replaced by a lanky male he drove out earlier.

Plus, that's just a gross generalisation. As we know both Corbett as well as the greener & cattle grazed areas of Ranth had plenty of stout & stocky specimens.

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T-34 Kumbha is just a slim individual, always was. Reply