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

[peter]

*This image is copyright of its original author

I bought this book through a friend in the USA. When it was delivered, I noticed it had been sent from New Zealand (...). Anyhow. The book was written by someone who managed a tea estate in Assam in the days of the British Raj. What did he see almost a century ago in a region now renowned for its tigers?

Well, Nicholls saw plenty of tigers. Most of the time, he watched them from a machan. In some cases, he was obliged to shoot them. Most of the 28 he shot were cattle-lifters, but quite a number also hunted humans. He never succeeded in killing a man-eater, but one of the large males who had killed a bullock was 9.8 straight:   

*This image is copyright of its original author

Nicholls included a few photographs of man-eaters shot by others:
 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Apparently, some of the large male cattle-lifters were weighed at the tea estate, where scales would have been common. In his book, Nicholls wrote that big males have tremendous strength. Some were close to 600 pounds:

*This image is copyright of its original author

In the books I got last winter, I read more than once about interactions between tigers and pythons. Apparently, pythons attacked tigers at times. In most cases, the attack happened near a tree. The tree served as a kind of anchor for the pythons. Some succeeded in killing a (often young) tiger, but others, like the one mentioned below, in spite of their great size (Indian pythons can grow to 18 feet or slightly over), paid with their life:
     

*This image is copyright of its original author

Nicholls, during his many travels, noticed tigers often followed herds of elephants. Almost all were large males who specialized on young elephants. Like many others in the region, Nicholls was surprised at the number of calfs killed: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Wild pigs often visited the estates in Assam. They caused a lot of damage and some of the solitary old males were dangerous. Nicholls described how a killer-boar was shot. It wasn't easy by any means.

The boar below, at 276 lbs., was a large one. It wasn't the killer.
    

*This image is copyright of its original author

Wild pigs in north-west and central India were larger. I read a letter in the JBNHS about a wild boar of 350 lbs. The one who wrote the letter thought it was the heaviest he had heard of, but he was wrong.

Wiele's very large tiger (see the previous post) killed a gaur close to Wiele's camp. Wiele heard about it and sat up over it in the evening. It was then he noticed the gaur had been confiscated by a very large male wild boar. When the giant tiger returned to his gaur, he saw it had been moved to a little bamboo forest. When he approached his kill, he was met by the wild boar guarding the gaur. Wiele saw parts (it was dark) of the terrible fight between both. It was undecided in that neither was able to kill the other, but one could say the boar was the winner because the tiger wasn't able to get to the gaur.

Wiele didn't provide details about the tiger, but he wrote it was the largest he had ever seen. He was as fit as they come, but in spite of that he was unable to win the fight. Maybe the boar was as agile and courageous as he was, but I think it's likely the boar was similar in weight. I never heard of wild boars of 400 pounds and over in India, but, as the next post will prove, they were there.

So how about Nicholls' book? It wasn't as informative as I thought, but it had authentic information on tigers and their habits in Assam. The part on pythons and tigers was interesting. Nicholls confirmed Assam tigers were large animals. He also confirmed most man-eaters were females. The reason they, at some stage, often had no option but to hunt humans was, however, explained by Hicks. I intend to do a few more posts on Hicks, as he is the one who really studied tigers for a very long time. Most of his conclusions, I think, stand to this day. Reply

[peter]

01 - THE BOOK

Carrington Turner's book was first published in 1959. I got the Natraj Publishers 2007 reprint and have to admit this reprint, in contrast to the reprint of Hewett's 'Jungle Trails in Northern India', is in excellent condition. Apart from the photographs, I mean.

The book has 12 chapters, most of which are about man-eaters. The reason is Carrington hunted man-eating leopards and tigers for many years. The book only has 190 pages, but it is well written and interesting from start to finish. It is dedicated to " ... the memory of the victims of the man-eaters and bears mentioned in these episodes ... ". Here's the cover of the reprint: 

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02 - ABOUT THE WRITER

Carrington Turner was a Forest Officer for more than thirty years. A man 'in the know', that is. During his career in the Indian Forest Service, he spent fourteen years in Kumaon:

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All stories are true from start to finish and all felines that featured were measured 'between pegs'. Were they as long as the ones measured by Jim Corbett and others, like Sir John Hewett? Yes. The shortest male tiger was 9.5 and the longest was just over ten feet. The two females taped 8.5 and a quarter and 8.8. 

One of the few flaws in the book is lack of dates. Based on the information he offered, my conclusion was Carrington Turner was in Kumaon between 1912-1926 or thereabout. Roughly the same period Corbett was active in, that is to say.


03 - KUMAON, THE LAND OF MAN EATING LEOPARDS AND TIGERS

Kumoan, large as a result of Corbett's books, has long been known as a remote region that had many man-eating felines. Corbett's experiences regarding man-eaters were confirmed by Carrington Turner. There is, however, a difference in the explanations both offered. Corbett thought most man-eaters turned to humans because of old age and (man-made) injuries, but Carrington has a different view in that he thinks it was a combination of competition and very testing conditions:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

04 - THE GORI MAN-EATERS

Tigers that were outcompeted didn't only come from Kumaon. The Gori tigers (male and female) operated over a hundred miles from the haunts and breeding grounds of Kumaon tigers. Carrington Turner thought they had come from Nepal, but they had probably left for similar reasons as the other tigers he hunted.

At some time, Carrington Turner had been sent to Almora. He made Askote, close to the junction of the Gori and the Kali rivers, as the centre of operations. Timber operations, that is. It was there that he first saw really wild men living in caves. Lean and shy, they moved with the speed " ... and silent purpose of a forest animal ... " (pp. 45-46). He tried to contact them, but they would have had none of it.

The Gori valley was densely wooded:  " ... pine covered most of the slopes, but gave way in places to broad-leaved species under which there was an almost impenetrable undergrowth composed mainly of a shrub with stout, branching stems. The undergrowth was between three and fout feet high, ideal cover for all animals ... " (pp. 46).

When he was informed about the Gori man-eater, they told him there were, in fact, two man-eaters. Both were experienced and not afraid of humans at all. Carrington Turner, when in the valley sleeping in a tent, was paid a visit as well. His dog told him one of the two stayed close to his tent for a long time. When it became clear the pair would have stopped the operations, Carrington Turner decided to beat the animals. He selected a well-concealed position on the ground below the dense forest, with his orderly behind him. This is what he saw:

" ... Apparently undeterred by the hunt, he (the male tiger) was walking at his leisure, cocking one ear backward and then the other, listening to the din behind him. He was not yet broadside on to me. He paused for a moment and looked back. His attention seemed to be concentrated on the noise behind him. He was slowly approaching a point where the whole of his left side would present the target I desired. Never hurrying, he moved along gracefully over the rocks in the shallow bed of the watercourse. It was good to see his supple form with its powerful fore-arms, easily capable of breaking the neck of an ox with a single blow. Looking at him just then, I could not avoid the momentary feeling of regret at the idea of destroying such a masterpiece in curve and colour, in muscle and might. But there was no hesitation in the menace of his thread ... " (pp. 56).

The bullit entered his neck. 

Then " ... Stout branches were cut and fashioned into poles. The man-eater was carried down tot he camp and his magnificence subjected to a mundane measruring-stick. He was nine feet six inches and had clearly passed middle age, although there were no signs of physical handicaps ... "  (pp. 57).

This is the Gori man-eater. Not a great photograph, but it was the only one that made it to the book:

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05 - AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN A TIGER AND A WILD BOAR

Carrington Turner once witnessed a fight between a tiger and a wild boar from start to finish when he was near a water-hole in Central India (between the Godavari and Kistna rivers). The incident happened in the third week of May and he and his friend did not intend to shoot animals. They were just watching the many visitors. He saw the largest leopard he had ever seen. Then a wild boar made his appearance:

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The boar cooled himself and rolled in the middle of the river-bed. Suddenly he arose:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The story is much like the others I read. The tiger usually is much more agile and faster, which enables him to control the fight. The hit and run tactic usually pays. As soon as the boar weakens, the tiger gets the opportunity needed. But a boar is a dangerous opponent and only needs one chance to bury his tusks in the belly of the tiger. If he succeeds, the tiger is finished. There are many stories about tigers killed in this way. It's about the details. It always is in a fight to the end.

There was no information on the tiger, but the boar was the largest Carrinton Turner had ever seen. And he had seen and shot one approximately 400 pounds in weight near Mahableshwar (close to the Koyna and Kistna rivers in the western part of Central India). The boar who killed the tiger was larger, so my guess is the tiger only could have been an adult male. Tigers are not invincible, that is, especially when their opponents are dangerous animals. 

Can Indian boars get to 400 pounds and over? My guess is they could some decades ago. Wild boars in western Asia and the eastern part of Siberia are larger, but Indian wild boars are by no means small animals and some are exceptional. Below are three examples of boars capable of killing even a prime tiger (India, Russia and India):

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

And then there is the exceptional animals, the hors category. Large male wild boars can get to 450 pounds and over. In south-western parts of Asia, like Iran not that long ago and Turkey (this photograph), animals of 600 pounds and over may be met at times:   

*This image is copyright of its original author

Brown bears hunt wild boars as well, but they are made of concrete and they are as heavy as their opponent or heavier. In many cases, they just use their weight to overcome the resistance. There is a video on the tube which shows a brown bear restrainting a wild boar in this way.

Tigers are the only real hunters able and willing to take on a large boar. They are large and powerful cats able to overcome most large mammals in a fight, but it's also true they offered concrete for agility and speed. Any mistake can be the end and that is without bad luck. 

Chance is important in any fight and so is confidence. It could turn against you. One male tiger specialized in gaurs overplayed his hand once, but that was enough. Same for tigers who take on bears and wild boars of similar or even larger weight. You never know what will happen. Each and every time a tiger engages a dangerous opponent, anything is possible. This is something many do not seem to appreciate, I think. Reply

[Wanderfalke]

amazing read Peter! Thanks a lot for the time you took in order to share such rich information. Those wild boars, doesn´t matter if exceptional or average are probably the fiercest non-carnivore opponents a predator can meet! I remember my mother and father telling us children in Poland, before we moved to Germany, that we should never enter the forest deeply without parents. Not because of the wolves we had there, they usually ran away when they saw a human, but because of the wild boars!!! I guess everyone here knows the video from the John Varty sanctuary, where the two males fight each other very brutally. You can see and hear how aggressively they use their hind paws to claw into their opponents belly. I couldn´t see any serious injuries despite the aggressive clawing to their bellies. So actually their belly seems to be pretty good protected. Though as we have been able to read, a wild boar, especially if it´s big, can easily rip a tiger´s belly apart, like it´s a sheet of paper! Very impressive animals, those wild boars!!!

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[peter]

Yes Wander, wild boars are not to be taken lightly. Digby (see the posts on his book), after World War One, wrote wild boars were not hunted by humans in eastern parts of Siberia (the Irkutzk region), as they had not been 'habituated' to humans. This meant they were considered too dangerous to hunt. I do not doubt there were good reasons.

I also read countless letters and stories on Indian wild boars hunted because they had killed humans. Old male boars especially, often solitary animals, had a bad reputation.

When we, regarding India, think of man-killers, leopards and tigers in particular often come to mind first, but there are many reliable stories on man-killing wild boars and wild buffalos. Hicks ('Forty years among the wild animals of India, from Mysore to the Himalayas') wrote a story about a wild Buffalo in Central India who attacked fishing boats and killed numerous men. When Hicks went after him, the buffalo nearly turned the tables on him. It was a close call.

Here, to finish with, are two photographs of wild boars I got from a book on hunting in Bulgaria. No giants, but more than large enough to take care of any kind of opposition:

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*This image is copyright of its original author

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[peter]

*This image is copyright of its original author

HICKS

This was a man loaded with experience. For nine or ten months of the year or more, for many years, he was in the forests. This was in a time in which humans and wild animals still hadn't quite finished the battle for territory in many parts of India. The word 'battle' isn't a result of an exaggeration. In those days (1850-1900), many thousands were killed by wild animals every year. This, of course, is without the thousands who perished as a result of disease. Malaria, cholera, outbreaks of unknown types of flu and many other diseases were quite common. And there were no cures back then.

Hicks thought a European in his prime needed about fifteen years to adjust to the conditions in India (...). When you had survived for that period of time, you stood a decent chance to add another fifteen. More exaggerations? Not quite. If you had survived the most common diseases, like malaria and cholera, as well as work, there always was 'sports'. And Europeans in particular indulged in it.

Hicks, when on his horse after a wild boar (there he is again), was seriously wounded when the boar turned the tables on his pursuers and killed his horse (...). Hicks next became a pilot without a licence and paid in that his knees were so badly damaged, the doctor ordered a two-year break. A two-year break in those days meant it was a bloody serious injury indeed.

When he returned to India some years later (he didn't like Australia one bit), he continued with 'work' and 'sport'. When he had survived countless more close calls with dangerous animals, he started suffering from overconfidence. One day, instead of waiting for reinforcements, he decided to follow the tigress he had wounded on his own. On foot. She surprised him, shook him like a rat and then continued on his hips and left hand. When he woke as a result of a strange kind of pressure on his chest some minutes later, he found the tigress lying on his chest. Quite dead, she was, but he wasn't that far away either. 

More dead than alive, but with (what remained of) his left hand, he had to stay in bed for nine months (...). He never completely recovered and was in pain for the rest of his days, especially in bad weather. He felt 'it' coming long before it started, that is. That was without the pain his liver abscess caused, of course. A result of malaria. But Hicks had been lucky, very lucky, and he knew it.

Was he the only one then, perhaps? Not quite. Not that far away, another Forest Officer had to take a very long break as well. He also was mauled by a tigress. Others in the Central Provinces had not been that lucky. Some got killed and others were killed first and eaten later. And more often than not, it was them bloody tigresses.

How to survive India would have been a decent title for his book, but he settled for 'Forty years among the wild animals of India, from Mysore to the Himalayas'. Hicks, apart from learning a whole lot the very hard way, was a lucky man indeed. And he was as happy as they come, for he was doing exactly what he wanted to do. I have to admit I felt a wee bit of envy right there.

And what did Hicks learn in India when he was in the Forest Service? This post has a number of insights, ideas and views I consider very interesting. Here we go.


EUROPEAN HUNTERS AND TIGERS

Hicks found a way to avoid saying most European hunters knew next to nothing about tigers and tiger beating, but he did say they hadn't quite prepared themselves. The result was they were tricked, used, opposed, ridiculed and, of course, robbed: " ... He (the European hunter) knows of no system to work on (regarding beating and shooting a tiger) and consequently is obliged to place himself blindfolded into the hands of a native shikari (a), and is entirely ignorant of the enormous amount of secret opposition which meets every outside sportsman in pratically every district of India (b) ... (pp. 17). 


THE BEAT OF A TIGER

Those who have read books written by J. Corbett, K. Anderson and others who hunted man-eating tigers, know tigers, man-eaters included, have a 'beat' in a more or less circular shape. Every part of the beat is visited every one, two or three weeks. Hicks offered an explanation for this habit:

" ... In my opinion, as a general rule a tiger does not kill more than once in about five days; that is to say, he arrives in a fresh locality, takes one of the animals here unawares, kills and eats of it on the first and second, and even third day; this lasts him through the fourth and fifth days, after which he begins to feel the pangs of hunger, but finding that the animals here are now all on the look out for him, he marches clean away, in one night often going for twenty miles without stopping. He then kills again, and the performance is repeated, after which he moves to a third place - moving generally somewhat in a circle. By this time the first place has had a rest of some ten or fifteen days or more, according to the luck he has had elsewhere; so he again visits the first place, and so on, round and round on a regular beat goes the tiger. These beats range from eight to twenty miles in length by eight to ten miles in width, according to the seasons of the year and the strength of the individual tiger in command, so that the extent and durations of the tiger's peregrinations usually become well known to the jungle tribes and local villagers ... " (pp. 43). 


MACHAN

" ... More luxurious kinds of machans can of course be used, but they are a nuisance and cause too much noise in being put up. The most handy kind for beating purposes in the jungles is an ordinary ladder made of bamboo of twenty feet or more in length, with a stout cushion fixed on one of the rungs at a height of about sixteen feet from the ground ... " (pp. 63).


KILLS

" ... I have known tigers take their kill to a distance of over two miles from the spot where they killed it; but this is a rare occurence and happens only when the local cover had been bad, water too far away, or when the animal killed had been too small and light, though occasionally I have known a very large tiger to take even a large and heavy kill for over a mile ... " (pp. 70).


THE ATTITUDE OF ABORIGINALS TOWARDS MAN-KILLERS

" ... There are hundreds - I may say thousands - of places among the many thousands of square miles of forests that cover large tracts of India, where quite  unknown to the outside world the human inhabitants suffer terribly from the depredations of habitual man-killers of various kinds. In this category are sometimes wild boars, neilgai, bears, buffaloes, and, worst of all, man-killing leopards and tigers.

But so imbued are the benighted victims of these depredations, with datalism, that they generally make no effort at all on their own initiative to rid themselves of these scourges. In fact they often go to the other extreme, and having invested the object of their dread with supernatural attributes, try to propitiate it with prayers and offerings, and such cases generally do all they can to conceal the beast's existence from any sportsman that may happen at any time to come to the neighbourhood, thinking thereby to earn the gratitude of their pampered 'demon'. This is most of all true of the inhabitants that are of aboriginal origine, as they mostly are in the jungle tracks ... " (pp. 151).


SLOTH BEAR AND TIGER

a - " ... I was expecting her (the tigress in the beat) to appear every moment, when suddenly there was an uproar among the bambus, which I then perceived contained a large bear. Here these two beasts kept up a wrangling argument over the right of way for about ten minutes; but the bear stood his ground, and I could see him making short rushes in the direction where the tigress was answering him with snarls. I would hardly have believed it possible, but that bear drove the tigress back in this manner yard by yard, until she at last turned round and bolted, breaking away through the line of stops ... " (pp. 176).

b - In 1893, in the north-eastern corner of the Jubbulpore District (Central Provinces), Hicks followed the tracks of a large male tiger. The tiger had followed and killed a large male sloth bear: " ... The whole thing was perfectly clear: after a prolonged fight, the tiger had killed and eaten the (large male) bear ... " (pp. 505). 

Interested in the tiger, Hicks shot him in a beat. It was : " ... indeed an exceptionally dark-coloured tiger, very compactly and muscularly built, without an ounce of superfluous fat ... " (pp. 506). The tiger, torn all over but not seriously wounded, was a male known for his bad temper.


HOW THE NECK IS BROKEN

" ... If the tiger comes up with the fleeing animal, he springs on to it, and simultaneously fixing one paw on to the shoulder, his fangs in the back of the neck, with the other forepaw hooked round the nose of the animal, he draws the nose inwards, so that the neck is bent round in a curve. In the meanwhile, the tiger's hindfeet are employed in tripping up the legs of the animal. These actions, with the combined impetus and weight of both animals, acting in the same direction, bring the whole mass down with a tremendous force on to the already bent neck of the animal, whose nose and head being bent inwards strike the ground obliquely, and so become doubled up under pressure of  this enormous impetus and double weight. The result of this is obvious; the vertebrae of the neck is instantly snapped ... " (pp. 626).

Although tigers fight bears in a different way, V. Mazak's drawing of an Amur tiger attacking a brown bear is the only one that shows how a tiger comes up with a large animal and uses his initial advantage in the way described above:

*This image is copyright of its original author

In large herbivores, this, according to Hicks, is the usual result:

 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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[Pckts]

Great stories Peter, I just ordered a Corbett book as I am just starting to learn about old hunters and their expierences since they are truly the real experts of old tigers when their numbers where abdundent and their prey was all over.
Very interesting to see that tigers understand that neck breaking is the quickest means of death on a large animal and obviously you will need a large tiger or very expierence one to do so.
I think this also has to do with the types of animals they hunt, bears, boar, buffalo all are very durable and to avoid a long drawn out and dangerous battle, a quick neck break is obviously the prime option if they can obtain it. Reply

[GuateGojira]

It is clear to me, that Bengal tigers had been of the same size and weight trough all this time. There is no difference (except for a few giant specimens). Large tigers existed and large tigers are still here. There is no "they were larger" or "they are now larger". The variations reported are based more in bad guesstimates, wrong old measurements or just geographic variations. The only population that suffered a dramatic change was that of The Sundarbans, but we most take in count that all the tigers captured in this area were frail and underweight, except for an old (12 years old) female of 80 kg, which was described in good condition (but check her age).

Pckts, about the book from Corbett, let's hope the book that you bough is that of "Man eaters of Kumaon". If that is the case, you will be able to see the picture of the wild white tigress with her cubs in the last pages. If not, tell us, which book do you will have?
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[peter]

(10-30-2014, 10:51 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: It is clear to me, that Bengal tigers had been of the same size and weight trough all this time. There is no difference (except for a few giant specimens). Large tigers existed and large tigers are still here. There is no "they were larger" or "they are now larger". The variations reported are based more in bad guesstimates, wrong old measurements or just geographic variations. The only population that suffered a dramatic change was that of The Sundarbans, but we most take in count that all the tigers captured in this area were frail and underweight, except for an old (12 years old) female of 80 kg, which was described in good condition (but check her age).

Between 100-150 years ago, male tigers averaged 402 lbs. in the Deccan, 420 lbs. in Central India, 435 lbs. in North-India and 460 lbs. in Assam, Cooch Behar and the Duars. If we disregard other regions and give each region a similar 'weight', the average works out at 430 lbs. for India roughly.

But.

The Deccan sample was small and had two tigers well below 400 lbs., which had a profound effect on the average. Dunbar Brander, regarding Central-India, lost most of his notes (his average referred to 42 males, but he had shot over 200). Furthermore, he missed a few large tigers. Hewett's sample also was affected by a number of young adults (3-4 years of age). Besides, he wasn't able to weigh twelve very heavy tigers because his scale had to be repaired at regular intervals. And the sample of the Maharajah had seven 'gorged' tigers. Without them, his average would have been 453 lbs. All in all, one could say the range probably was more limited, whereas the middle values (420 and 435) were too low. Based on the data I have, I concluded the real average could have been between 435-450 lbs. or thereabout. This average relates to the first decades of the last century. 

But half a century earlier, males in Central-India, according to Hicks, Forsyth and plenty of other with a lot of experience, ranged between 450-500 pounds. If we, as a working hypothesis, accept both averages (475 lbs. a century and a half ago and 445 lbs. about a century ago) were about correct, they could reflect the deterioration in conditions rather than the actual size of tigers.   

There isn't much on today's tigers. Of those weighed in the last four decades, however, not one was under 400 lbs, whereas a significant percentage was over 500 lbs. My guess for now would be 470-480 lbs. Slight advantage (5-10%) today's tigers, that is.  

Why is that?

One reason is the old samples were smallish. Another reason is adolescents and young adults (the Deccan and North-India) as well as gorged tigers (Assam and Cooch Behar) were included. And in Central-India, notes were lost. We could go for a lack of accuracy as a result of different reasons and be close. That, however, still wouldn't quite explain the difference between then and now. That's why we have to include 'conditions'. A century and a half ago, tigers were not that far away from pristine conditions. Half a century later, it was downhill all over India. Today's tigers, although very low in numbers, live in well-stocked reserves. The problem is they face stiff competition and infighting, because young males, for lack of room, can't disperse. These two factors could have resulted in larger-framed and, therefore, heavier animals. Maybe the tigers living in well-stocked reserves today compare to those that lived in near-pristine conditions a century and a half ago.  

Problem solved.

As for exceptional animals. It is to be expected a large population will produce more exceptions than a smaller one, especially in large animals like tigers. We were not disappointed in that reliable data indeed confirm there were more exceptions a century ago and even more a century and a half ago. Again no problems. Except for credibility, but that is a factor which should have little 'weight'.

Everything I know suggests wild tigers quickly adapt to circumstances. This, In think, is the main reason they deteriorated about a century ago. In the last three decades, in some regions, conditions have improved to an extent. It starts with territory. Expressed as a percentage of total land use, forests have increased considerably in India (from 19% three decades ago to about 24% today). There are now more reserves and wildlife is on the agenda again. The result is conditions have improved. The tiger responded. My guess is we will see a similar development in Russia and north-east China: more forests, more protection, more large animals, more tigers and, in the end, larger (heavier) tigers, resulting in a higher average.

It also works the other way round. Tigers living in regions subject to violent, human-triggered, changes lose size. As soon as humans move in, large prey-animals disappear. When they go, tigers target cattle first and humans later. The result is an even more intense hunt. The war-like situation, with both parties behaving like terrorists, continues until one is gone. The only thing missing is secret sponsors and reporters. The war usually goes unnoticed, but Sumatra tigers succeeded in attracting attention. Nearly every photograph of a captive Sumatran 'problem-tiger' shows an angry tiger. I never saw more angry tigers than Sumatran tigers.

Everything we do has consequences. Same for this forum. It is about animals. Big cats foremost. The more we talk about them, the greater the chance it will have some impact in the end. Spread the word:

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[peter]

*This image is copyright of its original author

Meet Col. F.T. Pollok. He was involved in roads, a century and a half ago. Burma, to be exact. Lower Burma. He didn't want to leave Burma, but they wanted him in Assam. Assam had been acquired after the Burmese War (1824-1826) and they wanted to develop this wild place. In order to do so, roads were needed. And Pollok was the man for the job. 

Because of the lack of roads, Pollok insisted on elephants when he arrived in Assam. He got them (four, to be precise) and bought two extra for himself. Sports and all that. Never drank a drop of spirits and no smokes too, for the climate was such that it would result in a quick downfall. He saw it all too often.

He was there for quite some time and saw a lot of sport. At the turn of the century, he decided to write a book with his friend W.S. Thom, who had also served in Burma. Thom later wrote an article about sport in Burma. It was published in the JBNHS.

The book has good information about Burma and Assam a century and a half ago. The people, their habits, roads and, of course, sport. Considering the time and the other books I saw, I was surprised about the quality of the photographs.

Any ten-footers in those days? Yes. The longest Pollok shot himself was 10.2. The only record of one longer he accepted was from an authority. That tiger was 10.4. From memory, I think it was a tiger shot in Burma.

In January 1870, Pollok shot a 10.1 (307,34 cm.) tiger close to the Manas river. He was so heavy, that 15 men were needed to lift him on to the pad. His skin was 13.4 (403, 87 cm.)! I don't know if this is the skin, but the photograph was close to the part on the giant tiger. I assume it was him:

*This image is copyright of its original author

So Pollok shot a tiger of ten feet one in January 1870? Measured 'over curves', no doubt? No. Pollok and Thom measured tiger 'between pegs'.

In those days (second half of the 19th century), they measured tigers 'between pegs'? Yes. Pollok wrote more books. In the one I read, he underlined tigers had to be measured 'between pegs'. In his article on Burma tigers, Thom also wrote the tigers he shot had been measured 'between pegs'.  

Here's another photograph with tiger skins from the same book. I again don't know if the 13.4 skin was included, but I think it was for the same reason as above. Watch the man on the right. Also watch a number of skins in the left. They were not as short as it seems:

*This image is copyright of its original author

One more to finish with. This is a photograph of a large tiger padded. It was close to the text on the giant tiger in the book, but I don't know if it was the giant tiger. I think not, but it was a large tiger anyhow:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[Roflcopters]

Very informative post, Peter. Thanks for taking a portion of your time out to go over the entire weight issue and i think the keypoint here is the better management. no one can deny that Indian Tiger Reserves are flourishing with tiger numbers and some places like Bandhavgarh, Tadoba & Ranthambore are so crowded that they're considering relocating some of the tigers to the other parks with low populations of Tigers.

now back to that picture of the 3 abandoned cubs, I never thought a day would come when we'd be talking about their success story.Returning Tigers To The Priamur: Episode 4 - Kuzya, Boris, Ilona, Ustin, And Svetlana: Their First Month Back In The Wild

The process of immobilization and the trauma of the long trip to the Primamur (as described in 

Episodes 2

 and 

3

) was really the easy part for our five young tigers just released into Amurskaya Oblast and the Jewish Autonomous Region. The real challenge for these tigers would come after release, and the questions were many. Will they acclimate to their new surroundings? Will they successfully learn to hunt in the wild? Where will they decide is “home” and how will they demark their home ranges? Will males and females stay together, or find separate non-overlapping home ranges? Therefore, in many ways, the first month of live in the wild represents the most critical period for these young, inexperienced tigers. Unfamiliar with their new surroundings, with their only knowledge of wilderness coming during the first few months of their lives when their mother’s took care of them, these tigers were now faced many challenges. If they did not figure out how to hunt successfully in their new home, they might easily starve. And if they do not learn to respect the brown bears and wolves who share their new homes, the consequences could be deadly. Our task was to closely monitor the tigers remotely via their GPS collars, and to regularly check in to ensure they are behaving normally and eating well. And while we were supposed to be stoic, unemotionally and unbiased scientists, in reality we were all “fans” routing for our favorite tigers to survive.

*This image is copyright of its original author

 Tiger collars transmit signals that we can receive [i]remotely and monitor their movements. [/i]Amur  region, RFEOn June 12th, a collaborative team comprising Victor Kuzmenko (Special Inspection Tiger), Pyotr Sonin (Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution), and Aleksandr Rybin (Wildlife Conservation Society) clambered upon an all-terrain truck provided by the JAO Wildlife Department and went to investigate some GPS locations received remotely from Ustin and Svetlana’s collars.The following is Aleksandr Rybin’s account: 

“We were particularly interested in checking what we call "clusters,” tight groupings of GPS locations that show a tiger stayed in one place for a long time. Such behavior is indicative of a kill, and we are keen to visit those areas after a tiger leaves to assess if they were successful in killing and eating prey. We also wanted to identify what animal the tiger killed, as this provides insight into how developed their hunting skills are. Badger remains, for example, would be a sign that the tiger was going after something easy to catch but not very satiating, whereas remains of an adult wild boar would suggest well developed hunting skills. Wild boar can be tough to bring down but offer a tiger food for a number of days. In the week since Ustin and Svetlana were released we accumulated a total of 13 clusters for both tigers. They had lingered in these locations from between 4-19 hours, which could mean we’d only find beds, but maybe we’d find prey remains as well. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

The heavy-duty vehicles that we are required [i]to reach tiger locations and investigate potential kill sites[/i]

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Trekol is another type of all terrain vehicle used for reaching remote sites

 Unfortunately, after an exhaustive search at all 13 sites, all we found were tiger beds. We did not find any evidence that the tigers had killed and eaten something there.  Instead of waiting in the JAO for more clusters to develop, we decided to move to the Amurskaya Oblast to assist our team that was already checking clusters of the three tigers there. Nikolai Rybin (Wildlife Conservation Society), Alexander Lazurenko (Special Inspection Tiger) and staff of the Amurskii Wildlife Department had remained after they release of Kuzya, Borya, and Ilona, and had already been monitoring them for nearly a month. In that time they had found multiple kills made by Ilona, including an adult roe deer and multiple young wild boars. She seemed to be adapting extremely well. Although they had not found any kills of Borya, examination of scats revealed that he had been successful in killing and eating wild boar. But we were worried about Kuzya, who had moved through an extremely remote region (making it nearly impossible to check on him) but perhaps more importantly, there were no large clusters of locations indicating that he had made a successful kill. Kuzya had settled down in a very small area for several days, and when he finally left, and we were able to examine that site, we were all relived to find only bits and pieces of a very large wild boar. Kuzya had made his first significant kill!We stayed in the Amurskaya Oblast for several more days, receiving daily locations of all five tigers and checking on the status of each as opportunities to arose. During that time we were able to identify a few more kills of wild boar by Kuzya. All these Amurskaya Oblast tigers seemed to be doing fine, but we still worried about their new neighbors back in the Jewish Autonomous Region: were Ustin and Svetlana figuring out how to hunt? Would they survive? When sufficient numbers of location clusters had accumulated for Ustin and Svetlana, we returned to the JAO to answer these questions.On June 21st, we loaded into a Russian all-terrain truck (called a Trekol) to investigate locations of Ustin and Svetlana. It took us until evening to reach the spot where Svetlana had stayed for nearly three days. We had passed considerable bear sign along the way, and when we found Svetlana’s kill, a two-year-old boar, its remains had been cached by a bear. We estimated that Svetlana had spent considerable time with the carcass so by the time the bear happened along she likely relinquished little more than bones to avoid a confrontation. This was good news two times over – not only had she made a kill, but she had successfully avoided confrontation with a bear – both important signs of adapting to her new home. 

The next day we went to check one of Ustin’s clusters. We had to fight through nearly five kilometers of swamp to reach this location, but it was worth it. We discovered the fully-consumed carcass of a three-year-old boar. This was excellent news. On the drive back we flushed a female moose with her calf, red deer, and roe deer, so were encouraged by the high numbers of potential prey. Getting back to Amurskaya Oblast was not so easy. Our vehicle broke down and, unable to repair it ourselves, we were forced wait for help from the JAO Wildlife Department, who sent another all-terrain truck to tow us out after a long, bug-infested wait of nearly a full day. 

We rushed back to the Amurskaya Oblast the next day as there had been alarming developments: Boris had transmitted signals from the same location for six days, after which his collar had not relayed signals for three more days. This could mean the worst: that he had died, perhaps even been poached, and his collar destroyed. We needed to reach the location of his last transmission as quickly as possible to investigate. Fortunately, all our fears proved groundless. The cluster where Boris had been stationary for six days was littered with the remains of a wild boar that Boris had completely devoured. The next day, his collar started to transmit again locations again.”

*This image is copyright of its original author

Remains of a wild boar consumed by young tiger Ustin

*This image is copyright of its original author

Remains of a wild boar consumed by young tiger Ustin

Tigers disappeared from the Amurskaya Oblast and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast 30-50 years ago, so the return of these young tigers marks an important milestone in recolonizing tiger habitat in the Russian Far East. With their first month of life in the wild behind them, all five "teenage" tigers are showing an amazing ability to adapt to their new surroundings. From our decades of studying radio-collared tigers in Primorye, we know that survival rates of young tigers dispersing from their natal territories are not high. Nonetheless, the results of our first month of monitoring these youngsters are very encouraging: all tigers have successfully made kills of wild prey, many of which are boar, and none have gotten into any conflicts with humans. It’s easy for a hungry tiger to start preying upon village dogs, and when GPS locations showed several of these tigers bypassing apiaries guarded by dogs without incident, we breathed a sigh of relief. Two of the tigers have even crossed the Federal highway without incident. While there are still no guarantees that all five will survive the difficult transition to life in the wild and adulthood, results of the first month give us true cause for optimism.

 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Tigers bypassed by this apiary without incident, without turning a hungry eye to the guard dogs there. That is a good sign!

*This image is copyright of its original author

We attempted to fix the Trekol ourselves, without luck, and had to be towed back to the village

These actions to return the Amur tiger to its historical habitat are an important step towards increasing total tiger numbers in Russia, and are conducted within the framework of the Reintroduction Plan put forth by the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, with the active participation of Inspection Tiger and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and with support from Phoenix Fund and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.


source: http://www.wcsrussia.org/AboutUs/NewsArchive/tabid/2041/ID/2588/language/en-US/RETURNING-TIGERS-TO-THE-PRIAMUR-EPISODE-4--KUZYA-BORIS-ILONA-USTIN-AND-SVETLANA-THEIR-FIRST-MONTH-BACK-IN-THE-WILD.aspx
  Reply

[GuateGojira]

The average figures are always a changing factor, based on sample size and the inclusion of old, gorged or young animals, like you have explained very well. For example, The average figures of Brander, Hewett and Cooch Behar (without gorged specimens) range between 190 to 205 kg ( about 419 - 450 lb). However, the factors mentioned above affected the results, although we most take in count that these three figures represent the largest samples available and no other records reach its size. Those in southern east India are very light, probably own by the fact that this area is relative dry (Hyderabad), in comparison with other habitats.

For modern figures, they are subject to interpretation. For Nepal, there are now about 10 males (7 from Smith et al. (1983), 2 more from personal communications with Tigerluver and finally the male M126), and the average "empty belly" should be of no less than 230 kg this time. The advantage here is that scientists DO separated adults from subadults, there are no old or decrepit specimens and the stomachs are already adjusted for stomach content. On the Nagarahole-Panna side, the samples are too small to reach a conclusion, so the results are only suggestive. In the case of Nagarahole and the entire Western Ghats, is interesting to see that the other few males hunted in the area are of the same weight-size than those captured by Dr Karanth, suggesting that in fact, Southern tigers are lighter in body weight than for example, those from northern India and Nepal.

Finally, a quick review on the records, show that although the average figures seems larger in modern times, in comparison with the old ones, I guess that if similar sampling method would be used, the average of all mainland tigers will range between 210 to 220 kg, which seems realistic for such a large and variable population (excluding the Sundarbans, of course). For the maximum figures, it seems that between 255-260 kg seems to be the normal figures and anything over that could be classified as exceptional. On the lower figures, old records mark a figure of 159 kg, reported by Sanderson, Brander give one of 160 kg and Hewett with the Maharaha of Cooch Behar give similar results (161 kg and 168 kg respectively) However, it is unclear if those males were actually "adults" or just young males between 2 to 3 years old, which are already independent and have an adult sized body.

In Nepal, Dr Sunquist captured a young tiger that already measured 289 cm in straight line, but that only weighed 159 kg. For an untrained eye, the animal was already an adult and it was sharing the habitat with another male proving that tigers are not territorial. However that is a common interpretation of people that don't know the social relations of the animals (Shankala is a good example). The TRUTH is that this was still a cub of about 18 months old and the other male (T-105) was his father, and he shared some time with him. On the size issue, I can bet that Brander-Hewett-Maharaja of Cooch Behar will believe that this was an adult male, light but large, what a huge mistake for them!

In modern samples for Nepal, other young tigers have weighed up to 450 lb (204 kg), while the lightest male captured by scientists is the dominant male Dakre (T-102) which weighed 200 kg (about 184 kg adjusted for stomach content). This suggest that the smaller adult male in India and Nepal should weight no less than 180 kg, which incredibly match with the lower range proposed by Mazák (1981). Karanth (2003) propose a figure of 175 kg, but this is based in the records of Pocock (1929 - 1939) and the only similar weight reported in the books of this Zoologist is one of a male from Indochina, not from India (Karanth state a range of 175-260 kg for males in south east Asia, not India "alone", eye with this).

Other young males in list are the Ranthambore tiger of 220 kg which was between 3 to 4 years old and the less than 3 years old male from Panna which already weighed 180 kg. This suggest that those "adult" tigers of between 160 to 170 kg were:
a. Young adults of less than 3 years.
b. Malnourished males.
c. Injured males (like the male of 365 lb hunted by Hewett).

Based in the evidence and from my own, particular, point of view, I think that old and modern adult male Bengal tigers of >3 years old, weigh between 180 to 260 kg and average about 210 to 220 kg, depending of the region. Take in count that this figures are not graved in stone, and variations could occur, this are just suggestive figures that could change with more samples.
  Reply

[sanjay]

I have no words... Information provided by you guys are tremendous .
Speechless.
I don't wanted to insert my useless post here to distract the conversation but i can't stop myself praising you guys specially peter
  Reply

[Pckts]

(10-30-2014, 10:51 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: It is clear to me, that Bengal tigers had been of the same size and weight trough all this time. There is no difference (except for a few giant specimens). Large tigers existed and large tigers are still here. There is no "they were larger" or "they are now larger". The variations reported are based more in bad guesstimates, wrong old measurements or just geographic variations. The only population that suffered a dramatic change was that of The Sundarbans, but we most take in count that all the tigers captured in this area were frail and underweight, except for an old (12 years old) female of 80 kg, which was described in good condition (but check her age).

Pckts, about the book from Corbett, let's hope the book that you bough is that of "Man eaters of Kumaon". If that is the case, you will be able to see the picture of the wild white tigress with her cubs in the last pages. If not, tell us, which book do you will have?
 

 

Thats the book I purchased, I just received it in the mail. I will begin to read tomorrow and post images of anything I find interesting. I read the reviews and it seems like that is one of his most highly recommended.

  Reply

[tigerluver]

Objective statistics approach to the elephant in the room.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This rejection is on the basis of the assumption of even playing field theoretically between the two groups, with all males full grown, of course. The p-value is a bit fragile, find a confounding factor somewhere and the conclusion may flip.

edit by sanjay Reply

[GuateGojira]

(10-30-2014, 11:53 PM)'Pckts' Wrote: While some prefer collars, that is by no means, all. And many prefer not to do it, so that is up to the biologist. But a biologist doesn't always have the interest of the species or nature in mind, and human inquires may or may not serve a purpose in cosnervation. And while logistics may not always allow camera traps to be placed all over, they can usually still be placed in abundance in the areas that allow it. We have learned far more about tiger society due to video and camera trap than we ever have learned from radio collars. Think about all the new tiger fathers we now have documented living with their family, hunting together, protecting their young etc. We wouldn't have learned that from a collar, only from visual proof. I am not saying that collars can't offer some good information, I am saying that camera traps and video can offer just as much with a far less invasive means of doing so and with out any tiger dying from unatural causes. While you may be willing to accept a few tiger deaths as long as science is involved, I am not. 1 tiger death or 100, its far to high of a price to pay.

 

 

I think that Peter explained very well the point, although he focused in Russian tigers and not the Bengal ones, which capture method is by far, safe and presented few problems. However, on your post, I will like to point out that the problem here is not to "accept" a few tiger deaths in the name of science, the point here is that those deaths were accidental and this is a risk that any one most take when we begin something new. All, I mean ALL scientific fields had sad stories in they past, from the persecution of the old scientists just because they said that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, up to the dead of Marie Curie, which died from radiation. All new fields have risks and those risks are involved in the famous "curve of learning". Science take a chance and often succeed, yes, two tigers died in Nepal, but all the others survived and now, Nepalese tigers are the only one that we actually know all they morphological, ecological and sociological facts. Obviously the price was low in comparison with what we now have. In fact, Nepalese tigers are about the few populations that actually have a chance to survive in the long therm, specially with the plan of the interconnection of the Terai arc (from Corbett (extreme west) up to Manas (extreme east)).

Other thing, although the behavior of the father tiger was actually discovered trough direct observations, there where not camera traps involved. The pictures and observations came from people that actually saw the events, principally Valmik Thapar, who in his book "Tiger, the secret life", presented by the first time this new insight of the life of the tiger.

I present, again, the case of the Sumatran tigers against the Nepalese tigers. Sumatra is full of camera traps and videos, but how much information we have about Sumatran tigers (size, ecology, behavior)? Now, compare the Nepalese tigers, we have all available data! Sumatran tigers have been studied since 2002 by several scientists, but at 2014 there are maybe two or three documents at the most, and from radiocollared tigers. This show that radiocollaring tigers in one of the best methods to study tigers, and the risk is few for the specimens. In this case, it is incorrect to say that camera traps have produced most of data, for the contrary, they have only produced demographic data, but not biological or social one, this came from Radiocollaring studies and long therm direct observations.

There is other point that have not been touched, the professionals that worked with tigers. Scientists and Vets that work with tigers most be professionals and experts in the field. Is possible that a bad work provoked the death of that tigress in modern times, but that is a human mistake, not that Radiocollar tigers is bad. However, testimonies from Nagarahole, Panna and Sariska, provided no evidence of problems or deaths in captures.

Finally, like Peter said, there is a War here, and if we don't take risks in order to get all possible information, tigers will die and remember this, your utopia of a "alone nature" is an impossibility now. There is not a single tiger population that don't coexist with humans. We can't just left the nature alone, if we do that, other ones will enter, and you know what would happen (Panna and Sariska most sound in your ears).

I sustain my point, if we want TRUE "Tiger science", both methods most be used, if not, only partial information will be available.
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