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Nepal tigers
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Unknown tigers,
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Bardia,  *This image is copyright of its original author Unknown,  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Chitwan,  *This image is copyright of its original author
Parsa tiger
 *This image is copyright of its original author Chitwan tigers,  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Nepal tigers,
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Nepal tigers,
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Fourteen year old tigress,  *This image is copyright of its original author
Bardia tigers,
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Parsa tiger,  *This image is copyright of its original author
Banke tigers,
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
01-23-2017, 06:08 PM
( This post was last modified: 01-23-2017, 06:20 PM by Jimmy
Edit Reason: adding some more photos
)
Chitwan tigers captured by photographer Sagar Giri
In Nepal, Chitwan National Park is home to the largest number of tigers. While hard to spot on the jeep tracks frequented by guards and tourists, a total of 120 Bengal tigers call the national park home. As winter began to intensify, photographer Sagar Giri set out to on a mission to photograph the beasts in their natural habitat. It took him 10 days to come close to one. “I’d start early at 6 am and roam the jungle till 6 pm.” says Giri. “But I could not find a single tiger!”All that changed on the sixth day.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author ...and a male tiger  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
A year ago, in the tiger extinction thread, I posted 19 tables on the size of Indian and Nepal tigers shot about a century ago. Most tables had individual entries only. The samples were large, meaning the averages are reliable. And impressive. So much so, that one poster complained about what he described as a 'selection'. The tables, however, were not a result of selection: every measurement of Nepal tigers shot before, say, 1940 was included.
The conclusion was that Nepal tigers, at the level of averages, could have been among the longest (referring to total length measured 'over curves') anywhere. It is because of their length that many of them, like the tiger in the second picture you posted, seem quite athletic. Same for the Sauraha male tiger, who first bottomed a 500-pound scale and, a few years later, a 600-pound scale. Undoubtedly a big tiger, but the photographs showed a well-built animal, not a tank. Today, Nepal tigers (about 200 or so) are protected. The result is more tigers and more individual variation. Sunquist and Dinerstein both mentioned a male who bottomed a 600-pound scale. If we add recent photographs, the conclusion is that some Nepal tigers operate in the heavyweight division. Not saying all of these big tigers would bottom a 600-pound scale, but I sometimes wonder if even a scale with a capacity of 700 pounds would do. In order to show you what I mean, I included the Sauraha tiger one more time. Although quite long (10.2 'over curves' or, based on the descriptions offered by Sunquist, about 9.10 'between pegs), he wasn't longer than many males shot by, for example, Sir John Hewett nearly a century ago and the Maharajah of Nepal in the thirties of the last century. The surprise was in the weight. He bottomed a 600-pound scale, although he seemed far from obese:  *This image is copyright of its original author Although large, the Sauraha tiger was not as large as the big tiger in this photograph:  *This image is copyright of its original author This one (far right) was 6 inches longer and definitely compared for robustness:  *This image is copyright of its original author The measurements of the tigers shot by the Maharajah of Nepal and his guests shot in the thirties of the last century are dismissed by many. This although Smythies, who used the diaries of the Maharajah for his book 'Big game hunting in Nepal' (1942), underlined that the measurements had been taken with care. All tigers had been measured by the same team. An average adult male from Nepal was very close to 10 feet 'over curves' in total length a century ago. In Chitwan and the eastern part of Nepal, the average was (well) over that mark. One of the giants shot in Nepal in the thirties of the last century was 10.9 'over curves' and 705 pounds. Another male of that length also was a robust animal. According to Smythies, he wasn't the only one. Some decades later, a professional hunter operating in the southwestern part of Nepal also described Nepal tigers as long, with a short tail and a large head ('Hunting in the mountains and jungles of Nepal', P. Byrne, 2012). In the seventies of the last century, Sunquist underlined that Nepal tigers were long and heavy. As for the photographs you posted. The last tiger in your previous post, apparently from Chitwan, is a large and robust individual:  *This image is copyright of its original author The first photograph in your last post, however, shows a bulky male:  *This image is copyright of its original author Nepal has plenty of males just under or over 400 pounds, but most of these are either youngish or old. A prime male in good health can exceed 600 pounds and, at times, even 700. The male in this photograph has an oversized skull and is built like a tank. It's chest is of such dimensions, that the legs seem too short. It might not show, but this could be another male similar in size to the Sauraha male tiger.
You have got the best information @peter, wish i could get the weight and length of the modern individuals but it's pretty hard these days. New modern technology like camera traps and even extracting and analysing DNA from scats has reduce the need to capture or even see any animal for health checkups etc unless a medical intervention for the sick is needed or for translocation purpose. However, there are certain cases and accidents that happens frequently here and- a recent incident where an adult male tiger of Bardia was hit by a truck on the highway and was killed. I would like to contact the Chief warden of Bardia National park Mr. Ramesh Thapa (but i have to find his email) who was on the scene but dont' know what they did with it. the link is this http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/...ident.html
A tiger from Karnali floodplains in Bardia National park (may have to do with the camera angle but in any case this cat looks good-sized)
 *This image is copyright of its original author A big male tiger of Bardia (below) according to the news (http://kantipur.ekantipur.com/printediti...80812.html) has a taste for a rhino calf, he has already snatched and killed an 8 months old rhino from it's mother in Jan 16, but has recently been seen following another rhino with a 3 months old calf. This is a cause for concern since the rhinos were originally brought from Chitwan so they could increase their population in two different reserves and there are only 30 odd rhinos in Bardia so every individual counts and calves are even more precious. Worse case scenario i feel will be if or when these rhino killers start targeting the mother rhinos... ..  *This image is copyright of its original author
Parvez, do you know if they released new camera trap pictures from Nepal for 2016?
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