Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers

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Kingtheropod Offline

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#42

11-27-2016, 11:25 AM

A Tiger Hunt in Thailand

It’s a surreal feeling speeding through the jungle in the black of night, guided only by the faded headlights of a primordial Toyota truck, in search of one of the most feared, most respected, most endangered and fiercest animals of the jungle: the tiger.
For what felt like an eternity (around an hour in a half), myself along with sixteen other students, our instructors and a handful of research station workers raced through the tangled mountainous jungles of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Northwest Thailand in search of a tiger.
Just after 9 p.m., we got word that the tiger researchers from the Khao Nang Rum Wildlife Research Station had successfully caught a tiger in a snare set next to a bantang (large cow-looking creature) carcass. With the sedation lasting around three hours, we grabbed our cameras and doused ourselves in bug spray before hopping in the bed of the truck. We all traveled to Thailand with the hope of catching a glimpse of a tiger, something no other group had successfully done in the previous eight years of visiting. It seemed that on this night, if all was successful, we would get to see one of the rarest creatures on earth.

We had been in Thailand for a little over a week and had only been in Haui Kha Khaeng for a few days. The wildlife refuge is part of a larger protected area, known as the Western Forest Complex, which is about three times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Due to its designation as a wildlife refuge, the protected land is relatively untouched and visitors aren’t allowed without a permit. It’s an incredible landscape, filled with thick forest-covered mountains, miles of impenetrable bamboo stands and thousands of acres of evergreen, deciduous and dry dipterocarp forest.

The animals that inhabit the area are just as diverse as the landscapes. Along with the Indo-Chinese tiger, the Western Forest Complex is home to Asian Elephants, leopards, sun bear, Asiatic Black bear, tapir, barking deer, sambar (an elk-looking ungulate), water buffalo, gaur, bantang, wild boar and gibbons, and many other species.

When we arrived in the refuge, we were warned about venomous snakes and scorpions, and to be fearful of tigers and leopards, but most of all be on alert for elephants and bears. In the last few years, elephants have apparently killed five people in the area, including a worker at the entrance of the research station.
Needless to say we were on high alert. We weren’t in Minnesota anymore, that was for sure. It was as if we’d entered Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book world and we were finally in a place where humans didn’t hold all the power but rather in an Eden where pretty much everything could kill you or was trying to kill you.
Earlier that day we had split up into groups of three and set out with Thai researchers on remote trails throughout the wildlife refuge to conduct a prey occupancy survey. We were looking for signs of wildlife – specifically tiger prey and evidence of tigers – in designated areas. The data provided researchers with information about the wildlife in the area and if it was viable habitat for tigers. We observed and recorded signs of dung, tracks, scents, scratch marks and all other signs of wildlife. My group hiked around five miles down a mountain through a dense bamboo forest. At times our Thai guides had to cut new trails with their machetes because we were either hiking through an uncharted area or the trail had become overgrown with lush vegetation. It was an exhausting trek and every inch of my body was soaked in sweat. Dirt and leaves stuck to my damp skin and my bare arms were riddled with cuts and scratches from the various thorns and nettles that clawed at us in every direction.
I was always cautious about grabbing vines and trees in fear of accidently grabbing a snake or some poisonous insect. According to the Thai guides, there’s also a plant with toxic leaves that can cause blindness if rubbed in or near the eyes.
Elephants had recently been through many of the areas we trekked through. They trampled everything in their path and often left the forest looking like a war zone. We were constantly hopping over downed bamboo stands and avoiding the elephant dung that littered the flattened areas.
Our group came across a lot of evidence of prey (sambar, bantang, gaur, wild boar), but we also encountered a lot of tiger tracks, claw marks and scent marks. The scent marks gave off a surprisingly smell of buttered popcorn. I probably wouldn’t wear it on a first date, but it didn’t smell horrible.

After six hours of hiking and recording our data in the heavy jungle heat, we were rescued by a couple of Thai researchers in a shoddy truck. When we returned to the research station, another group had encountered what no other student from the University of Minnesota ever had: a tiger. Apparently the group rounded a bend on a road only to come within a few yards of a frightened tiger. Both the tiger and the students bolted in opposite directions. The group seemed a bit shook up, but excited. The rest of us listened in envy of seeing one of the most extraordinary and endangered animals on earth.

When the tiger experts radioed in that evening, we were beyond ready. The researchers had placed snares in a handful of locations around the refuge only a few hours before. To have actually caught a tiger in one of them in that short of time span seemed unreal. Not only are tigers rare (somewhere between 150 and 200 are thought to inhabit the entire Western Forest Complex), they’re also extremely intelligent and seem to avoid human presence at all costs.
We had no idea where the trap was located and excitedly rode the bumps of the degraded gravel road up and down the steep hills. There was a lot of anticipation, but there was also a lot of anxiety. This encounter with a wild tiger is rare even for researchers and one little misstep could end in disaster. Due to their endangered status, not only is each tiger vital to the population in the refuge, but also to Thailand as a whole, which only has a handful of other much smaller populations around the country. If the tiger were to die while anesthetized, researchers could come under punishment and repercussions from the Thai government. Everything was on the line.

*This image is copyright of its original author

After about an hour riding through the jungle in the back of the truck, I was feeling the pain of sitting on a narrow wooden board. Each bump emanated moans and groans from the truck bed. We were all exhausted from our occupancy surveys and the uncomfortable setting in the truck wasn’t helping. The stop and go jerks of the stick shift caused people to fly all over the place, and the occasional branch to the face was both painful and annoying.
When we passed one of the ranger stations near the entrance to the refuge, we were greeted with large toothy grins. The rangers either knew we were headed to see a tiger or they were amused by seventeen haggard American students being tossed around in the back of a cattle truck. My guess is the latter.
We took a side road and were told to hush. We were close. A couple of lights shined in the distance and we knew we had made it. The truck parked about a hundred yards away and we could see a group of Thais bustling around something large. We were instructed to be silent and do as we were told. In the most disorderly fashion, we hustled through the knee-high grass with our headlamps guiding the way.
And there it was. A tiger. The beast of folklore and today a symbol for endangered species.

It didn’t seem real. My mind raced and couldn’t seem to catch up to the current sight. It was as if I were in shock. No, I was in shock. I gasped and smiled, unsure if what I was seeing with my own eyes was real.

A bag covered the tiger’s face in order to shield the bright lights, but its enormous muzzle poked out. The Thai researchers buzzed about – recording temperatures, taking measurements, locking on a radio collar and snapping photos. They yelled in whispers and we stood in awe of what was happening before us. I snapped a few photos with my iPhone before they announced that we weren’t allowed to take any photos. We put all our cameras away reluctantly but we were now free from technology and able to fully observe the amazing animal. They weighed the young male by tying the tarp it was on to a stick with a scale on it. The meter ticked around 350 lbs. – not even fully grown (adults can weigh between 600 – 800 lbs.).