ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

FOOD HABITS OF AMUR TIGERS

This is a brand new article. It has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record.

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1 - TITLE PAGE

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2 - ABSTRACT

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3 - FIELD METHODS AND SCAT COLLECTING

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4 - PSEUDOREPLICATION

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5 - BEARS AS FOOD

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6 - THE THREE SITES USED TO COLLECT SCATS

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7 - SEASONAL RELATIVE BIOMASS CONTRIBUTION TO AMUR TIGER DIET

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8 - THE EFFECT OF PSEUDOREPLICATES ON ESTIMATES

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9 - PERCENT BIOMASS CONTRIBUTION OF PREY SPECIES TO AMUR TIGER DIET

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10 - SEASONAL VARIATION IN PERCENT BIOMASS CONTRIBUTION OF PREY SPECIES TO AMUR TIGER DIET

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11 - CONCLUSIONS

a - The scats were collected over a long period of time and adjusted (referring to pseudoreplication). The conclusions are very reliable, that is.
b - The results roughly confirm those of Miller (thesis) and, in particular, Tkachenko discussed in previous posts (this thread). 
d - In summer, bears are an important food source Amur tigers, especially in the south of Sichote-Alin.
e - Remember 'bears' wasn't specified (species, sex and age). Same for circumstances (unknown).  


12 - DISCUSSION

- Until very recently, it was assumed that only older, experienced male tigers hunted bears on a regular basis. This in spite of observations pointing in another direction (Bromley 1965; Heptner and Sludskij 1980; Kerley (pers. communication) and Tkachenko, 2014). It's clear this assumption has to be adjusted. Tigresses and immatures (like the young male recently released) also hunt bears.

 -  Although tigers prefer smaller bears (see the article on Schleyer posted in this thread), biologists concluded adult bears (male Himalayan black bears and female brown bears) are also hunted. Although female brown bears average 140-150 kg., heavier animals are not avoided. Bromlej (1965) mentioned one of approximately 170 kg. and others, more recently, witnessed fights between male Amur tigers and female brown bears estimated at 150-200 kg. With the percentages found in the study, it seems unlikely that tigers hunt small(er) bears only.      

- It seems likely that Sichote-Alin has much more ungulates than bears. In spite of that, bears, biomasswise, contribute more than expected to the diet of Amur tigers in summer. It is not known if Amur tigers prefer deer over bears when both are available, but the information points in the direction of bears. Reply