Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers

[GuateGojira]

Short note: Tiger food intake.

Incredible as it is, the information about tiger food intake is very few, and was actually recorded only in TWO places: Kanha and Chitwan.

In Kanha, India, Schaller (1967) made a report of tiger consumption in pages 298 to 300. A summary of that report is here:
* 2 tigresses ate 89 lbs, 44.5 lbs each of them.
* 1 tigress ate 40 lbs with 1 small cub.
* A male tiger (the only one in his study) ate 53 - 58 lbs in a day.
* 2 tigresses and 4 cubs (1 year old) ate 33 lbs.
* The tigress with 4 cubs ate 50 lbs.
* 2 tigresses amd 4 cubs ate 25 lbs each.
* The tigress with the 4 cubs eat 22 pounds per day, based in several baits.
The conclution of Schaller was that tigers can eat 40 to 60 lbs (18 to 27 kg) in a night, more in a large male. However his sample was small, included only one male and for some reason ignore the data of the tigerss with 4 cubs that he says that consumed 22 lbs (10 kg) per day, based in "several baits".

After that, Sunquist (1981) and Tamang (1982) in Chitwan NP, Nepal, provide us the information of actual tiger consumption based in 38 baits and natural kills. They conclution was that the average consumption for male and female tigers was between 14 to 18.6 kg in a day, with a range of 11 to 34 kg in a day. The figure of 35 kg reported by McDougal (1977) seems vague and more like an estimation, but is not imposible to reach for a tiger.


Based on this, Karanth (2001-2013) mention that the consumption of tigers can be between 15 - 35 kg, and this figure is often quoted. Incredible, while the higher figures are copied as they are, the lower figures are ignored.

Now, where it came the figure of "up to 45 kg"? Thapar guide us in his book "Tiger: the ultimate guide" of 2004, when in page 125 mentions: "According to Charles McDougal, an adult tiger can consume thirty-five kilograms of meat at a single sitting. Mel Sunquist thinks the figure may be even higher. He argues that the maximum amount a tiger can eat in twenty-four hours is about one fifth of its own body weight, which for a large male translate into forty-five kilograms. I have seen a tiger consume an entire chital -about thirty kilograms of meat- at one meal."

Where Dr Sunquist mentioned that? Interestingly, is in the book "Wild Cats of the World" of 2002, page No. 351, where he mention this. However we must be carefull as this is just a guess, not a real figure. Just like the often quoted prase that "tigers have a 10% of success killing", which his also only a guess and a one that is no longer accepted as reliable (Sunquist, 2010; Karanth, 2013). But this is not the first time that someone guess about the food consumption of tigers, Guggisberg (1975) summarize the reports of old hunters about tiger consumption, he mentions that Locke puts the amount at 18 kg, Sanderson at 30 kg and Baikov between 30 to 50 kg. However there is no evidence that these reports were actually reliable as none of them described if they weighed any prey before and after consuption, which is the only form to calculate how much the tiger weighed.

Finally, Chundawat (2018) give a very good example of the errors of calculating the food consuption "per eye" in page 215: "We estimated that on a regular basis he (speaking of male M-91) could eat over 25 - 30 kg in one sitting, lasting 4-6 hours. This estimate was calculated from an average of what each field-team member though the amount in kilos was, that had been eaten. When we tranquillized M-91 for radio-collaring, we had located him over a kill with a full belly. During recover, he vomited and emptied out his belly. I'm loathe to say this, but the volume was so large that we weighed the meat he regurgitated. It was 19 kg. Contrary to his otherwise timid behaviour, we regularly located M-91 on sambar and nilgai kills (if within the pak) and found that he was not disturbed by our approach."

Here we can see that the field members estimated the consumtion of this tiger between 25 - 30 kg, but when they located on a kill he was with a full belly and when he vomited all the stomach content it resulted that it was 19 kg, not even near the estimated amount of the field members! In this case we can confirm that figures of Sunquist (14 - 19 kg) and the figures of up to 34 kg came from meals of about 24 hours, not the 4 - 6 hours that tigers can eat in disturbed baits. Also remember that the male M-91 was huge, in fact, he is the largest male tiger captured in Panna (confirmed in the pages with pictures at color between page 246 and 247), not M-125 (Madla male), and his figure of 240 kg+ is already adjusted for stomach content.


So, we can conclude that while tigers can gorge themselves, the figures recorded shows that tigers can normally eat between 10 to 34 kg, with average figures between 14 to 19 kg in a day. Also, we can see the problem in "guessing" the food intake of a large cat, which can lead the great exagerations.


Hope this helps, greetings to all. Reply