Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers

[woshiniya]

(04-13-2022, 10:58 PM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(04-13-2022, 05:30 AM)woshiniya Wrote: M105 was longer 8cm in second capture than the first capture，and tiger'frame change by the age of 3 years old，so M105 probably only 3years old in the first capture and 4 years old in the second capture.

You made an excelent observation! The measurements of M105 (Sauraha) that we all know were taken in December 31 of 1975 when Dr Sunquist was still using the scale of 500 lb. Now, we can see that Sauraha was still growing (check the difference between 1974 and 1975, both at December 31) and I can bet that in the next captures he probably was bigger in linear dimentions too, not only in weight. That means that when Sauraha weighed over 272 kg, probably he was larger than the dimentions that we know.

Interesting as it is, the head-body length of 197 cm that we normally quote, was calculated, not actually measured. Dr Sunquist said that they measured the total length first and latter they measured the tail from the root. Check that when we calculate the head-body (TL - Tail) the result is the length from the nose to the root of the tail, not to the end of the hip bone. That means that the real head-body taken in the form of the old hunters could be no less than 200 cm, and taking in count that the tail itself could be of 10 cm in diameter, that means that the real head-body of Sauraha was up to 205 cm, and that make sense when we compare it to the hunting records. I made this image some months ago, in my "always at hand" notebook, I put some color on it and I furnished a little for all of you:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The reconstruction shows the proportions of this large male, the shoulder height is speculative but I estimated that a real standing height of a little more of 100 cm is accurate. There you can also see where the measurement of the head-body start and end and why the real body length is larger than 197 cm.

About the age of M105, no documents do state the age in its first capture (only says "adult"), but probably it was no less than 4-5 years when captured for the first itme in 1974.

I am agree with your analysis about the length of M105，because it is almost wholy match with my thoughts and opinion on it，but I have some defferen
ce about the age，basing on my a lot of obserations the most of tiger’s nose begin to appear black point in their age about 3-4，although there are a few exceptions. We can saw the whole pinkness nose of those pictures about M105，and we need to notice the collar  on his neck in those pictures，so it must had been captured  in the shooting time. And according to the paper of Jhala，wild tiger frequently improve their length up to 3  years old，so according to the defference of 8cm that length of M105 in the first and second captured，I think M105 about 3 years old in the first captured personally. Reply

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