Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers

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Pckts

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#394

12-19-2019, 12:45 AM

(12-19-2019, 12:37 AM)Shadow Wrote:
(12-18-2019, 11:54 PM)Pantherinae Wrote:
(12-18-2019, 07:44 PM)BlakeW39 Wrote:
(12-16-2019, 04:52 AM)GuateGojira Wrote: On the record tigers, a wide point of view:

Since I have started my study on tigers, I have manage to read several sources on tiger biology, ecology and evolution, and about tiger size, all except one (Dinerstein, 2003) says that Amur tigers were the biggest and quote incredible figures of over 300 kg. However it was in 2005 that Dr Slaght (an owl expert) and others published a chapter in the Amur tiger monograph of the Siberian Tiger Project and they concluded that all the figures over 260 kg in litterature were not reliable, quoted without backup or simple imposible to verify. The best example is the figure of a tiger hunted by Baikov, the male was of 325 kg and is quoted by Sunquist & Sunquist (2002) but the team decided that was not reliable as they could not found the original source. At the end, they downgraded the Amur tiger and now is considered second in size to the Bengal tiger, with a maximum reliable weight of 254 kg. Some sources still quote the Amur tiger as the biggest, but to the "initiated circles" that is no longer a realiable fact.

Now, what happen with the Bengal tiger, the new king of tigers? Well, if we use the sources of Mazák (1981), Sunquist (2010), Karanth (2013) and Hunter (2015), they all conclude that the male Bengal tiger, in mainland, weight between 180 to 260 kg (Karanth (2013) put a lower figure of 175 kg, but that is because he is including all South Asia and that figure came from an Indochinese tiger quoted by Pocock (1939)), with the current record of 261 kg for a Nepalese tiger. However, the correct information is that two males captured in Nepal (M105 and M126) weighed over 272 kg and the calculated figure of 261 kg is bases in a chest girth equation; personally I calculated that "empty belly" those males weighed no less than 260 kg, and that is the current figure accepted as the normal maximum for the Bengal tiger.

But, that is the maximum that the tiger from the Indian subcontinent can reach? Apparently that is not the case. There are some records that shows tigers of over 600 lb and more, much more! The following list summarize the males that I could get from litterature, of tigers clasified as "exceptional" for they huge size. Take in count that while I put the top figure for males at 272 kg, this is based in the two Nepalese male tigers and that probably they had some stomach content, other male hunted in Gwalior weighed 590 lb (268 kg) and although it was attracted with a bait, the animal was searched and hunted the entire day, and based in the fact that the tiger did not eat during those more than 10 hours of hunt, the animal was practically "empty" when they hunt them (Singh,1959). Here is the list of the records from India and Nepal, is not a particularly long one:

1 - 272 kg (600 lb) male hunted in Gwalior by Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, in 1914. The total length was reported at 11 ft and 6.5 in (352 cm), obvioulsy taken "over curves" (Singh, 1970).
2 - 276 kg (608 lb) male hunted in Gwalior by the Kumar of Bikaner, probably before 1928. The total length was reported as 10 ft 2 in (310 cm), probably taken "over curves" but also posible also "between pegs" (Wood, 1978).
3 - 281 kg (620 lb) male hunted in Gwalior by H. H. Sir Mahabat Khan Nawab, no date was mentioned. The total length was reported at 10 ft 3 in (313 cm), probably taken "over curves" but also posible also "between pegs" (Vernay, 1930).
4 - 292 kg (645 lb) male hunted in Kumaon by E. H. Morbey, probably before 1928. The total length was reported as 10 ft 6 in (320 cm), probably taken "over curves" but also posible also "between pegs" (Wood, 1978).
5 - 318 kg (700 lb) male hunted in Central Provinces by Captain M. D. Goring-Jones, probably before 1907. Total length reported as 9 ft 11.5 in (304 cm), probably taken "between pegs" (tail of 94 cm), skull of 362 mm X 267 mm and a weight of 5.2 lb (Rowland Ward, 1907).
6 - 320 kg (720 lb) male hunted in Chitwan, Nepal, by the Maharaha Joodha of Nepal. Total length reported as 10 ft 9 in (328 cm) taken "round the curves" (Smythies, 1942).

This list exhaust all the huge tigers in my database, if some one here have more records, feel free to post them. Appart from tigers 2 and 4, I have the original sources from the records.

From a list of 173 male Bengal tigers, 7 of them are clasified as "exceptional" and one of them is the Smithsonian tiger of 389 kg, which I no longer believe is entirely reiable. The other 166 males are the ones that I used for my normal list. These 7 males represent only about 4% of the sample, which shows how rare are animals of these dimentions. However, are these tigers really imposible to exist?

If we take this range of sizes, between 272 to 320 kg, there is a diference between 12 and 60 kg from the current highest figure of 260 kg. However, at least the tigers 3 and 6 are described as has been actually weighed, while those of Rowland Ward are still open to aceptance, as the males 2, 4 and 5 only appear in this series of books. Tiger 1 was just reported by Colonel Singh, but he did not saw it. There is other fact, the tigers from Gwalior were all hunted by dignataries and royalness, and were all probably baited, as the hunt for the tiger of 590 lb describe. We know that male tigers can eat up to 34 kg in one sit (Tamang, 1982), but in a normal bait they can eat between 14 to 19 kg (Sunquist, 1981). So, what happen if we adjust those "huge" males:

1 - 272 - 14-19 kg = 253 - 258 kg -- or as low as 238 kg (-34 kg).
2 - 276 - 14-19 kg = 257 - 262 kg -- or as low as 242 kg (-34 kg).
3 - 281 - 14-19 kg = 262 - 267 kg -- or as low as 247 kg (-34 kg).
4 - 292 - 14-19 kg = 273 - 278 kg -- or as low as 258 kg (-34 kg).
5 - 318 - 14-19 kg = 299 - 304 kg -- or as low as 284 kg (-34 kg).
6 - 320 - 14-19 kg = 301 - 306 kg -- or as low as 286 kg (-34 kg).

Under this conception, we can estimate that IF all these male tigers were baited, the empty belly weight could be between 255 to 303 kg, still exceptional but not completelly out of question, and if the tigers were fully gorged, which was probably not the case, these males could weight between 238 to 286 kg, lower but closer figures to the current record. Now, taking in count that the males 3 and 6 were actually weighed and vouched by persons that we can quote as real experts, the figures of 264 kg and 303 kg for these two males "empty belly" is completelly plausible and open the door to the corroboration that tigers up to 300 kg could exist.

Now, we know that the acceptance of these records will be always open to debate as none of them came from a first hand source and those that were actually witnessed are the male of 590 lb from Gwalior (Singh, 1959) and the two males from Chitwan of over 600 lb (Dinerstein, 2003). In this form we could concluded that "empty belly", a male tiger in the Indian subcontinent weight somewhat more than 260 kg and can reach up to 300 kg in exceptional cases.

Now, knowing how rare are the big tigers and checking all the posibilities about the existence of exceptionally big tigers, how plausible is the existence of a tiger of over 340 kg in modern times?

There are many conversations with experts in these says, but just a few speak of exceptional specimens out of the normal high figures of 250 - 260 kg, an example is one reported by @Pantherinae with Reuben Matthews about a lion called "Ceasar" in East Africa that apparently weighed "about 284 kg" and now we have other conversation of @Pckts with Wasif Jamshed that mention a tiger of "more than 340 kg". To be honest, from a list of 71 male lions in East Africa, 184 male lions in Southern Africa, 9 from West and North Africa and 11 from India, 275 male lion in total, none reched the 260 kg "empty". So if the figure of "about 284 kg" result to be real, it definitelly include stomach content (the male lion of 272 kg from Kenia was not completelly empty and was a cattle eater and consequently abnormally bulky).

Now, what about the tigers, we have a list of 173 male tigers in India and Nepal, and none of them, appart from the tiger of the Smithsonian, surpass the 320 kg, so is really hard to accept the existence of a tiger of 340 kg, specilaly in modern days. The source which is expert Wasif Jamshed should be credible, but like @Shadow pointed out, his motivations for not disclusing the details are not quite logic. If we accept this tiger, we will like to know if it was "empty belly" or if included some stomach content. For the moment, I am still skeptical with this figure, but let's see if someone can confirm it or not, after all this is the main goal of Wildfact, to uncover the true facts of nature.

Wow... impressive. 340kg does seem a bit of a stretch, but anything is possible so I wouldn't totally count any of these weights out so long as they can be bolstered. I also did not hear Caesar was said to be so big but then again estimates are just that.

Caesar was weighed not estimated after a hippo meal he said. He said first that Caesar weighed 289 kg then 284 kg because he wasn’t 100% sure. He was unable to cantact the guy that had weighed Caesar as he no longer worked there.
That’s the info I got from it. But Caesar was huge and I think everyone that has seen him would agree that he was abnormaly large and bulky to be a lion.

Still that is very vague source. Someone weighed that lion at some time, but no available information to know more. Now also said, that weighed just after meal and we all know what lions can look like after a good meal :) For me some of them look like almost exploding soon, belly stretched like a balloon.

Of course it´s interesting to hear about possible weights, but for me this tiger case and Caesar create more questions than giving answers. I try to ask again about that tiger, the person I managed to contact concerning tiger weight is quite busy. My hope to get more information in 1-2 days was for sure too optimistic.

What comes to Caesar, I have managed to find a report and photos concerning the case, when he was medically treated, but there was no mention about possible weighing or weight. Difficult to understand what would be so big secret in his weight, especially after his death. If he was weighed by some organization, maybe they could be contacted?

Reuben Mathews, who is the one who claimed it has no connection to any organization, he's simply a photographer and guide.

Here is Caesar next a Land Cruiser