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India tiger census shows rapid population growth

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Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#72
post #14

Tigers are twice as heavy as lions but still the same size. With a single swipe of a claw, a tiger was able to slit a lion’s throat, killing it instantly.

This is false, lions and tigers are very similar sizes, and indeed are incredibly similar overall. They are almost indistinguishable by their skeletons. I don’t know where you got this information, but it is wrong.

Guess again. A full grown male lion tops out at about ~400 pounds, or about the weight of a female tiger.

A male bengal tiger can easily hit ~700 pounds. If a lion isn’t at the top of his game and weighs maybe 350 pounds, which is easy when you lay around all day instead of wandering the jungles constantly hunting for meals, that’s about a 100% difference.

700 pounds of tightly coiled muscles waiting to pounce. If you’re in a jungle you’ll never see it coming. Maybe in a wide open field a lion could put up a good fight, but if you’re in the jungle never bet against the tiger.

In fact, just never bet against a tiger period. They are far more aggressive than lions and have little to no mercy. A human could be friends with a lion but rarely a tiger. To even be somewhat respected by a tiger you’d first probably have to be an absolute unit.

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Muscle density does not really change from one animal to another, so more likely just the amount of muscle if the premise is true. And I am not sure that it is obvious that they have the same level of fat.

If there is more muscle on a creature of approximately the same volume, then the density of muscle has increased?

But how do you know that there is more muscle? You only know that there is more mass based on the premise.

My point is that muscle cells across animals don't have significantly differing density. However, different individuals (of any species) may have different levels of glycogen and fat embedded in the muscle, which may contribute to your point of "muscle density". It is just a loser terminology of muscle density as such. Even then, I doubt that muscles mass for the same volume of muscle could change that much across individuals.

All in all, I am just arguing for more specificity in your hypothesis, because I think in its current form, it isn't adding much clear detail.

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#74
The article mentions tigers running out of room and coming more and more into human contact, in fact there was a story not long ago about a bunch of villagers killing a tiger.

Are there any plans to increase the size of the reserves, or creating new ones for the increasing tiger population?

Also, is it possible for tigers to mix sufficiently from one reserve to another, to avoid a lack of genetic diversity?

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#75
Astonishing. Still a long way to go, though.

> Mr Modi said the results of this tiger census would make "every Indian happy".

This isn't an exaggeration: Tigers are interwoven in to the Indian (and Bangladeshi?) psyche [0] owing mostly to the overwhelming guilt of almost singlehandedly causing extinction of these beasts. As the article states, in the 20th Century over 80,000 Tigers were killed in undivided India-- They were mostly demonised in tales of yesteryears [1] and terrorised the populace due to their aggressive behaviour and man-eating tendencies.

There's 2,900 of them now, but a long way away from 80,000. May they burn bright forever [2].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machali_(tigress)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shere_Khan

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger#Poem

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#77

This is such a welcome news and a great start to the week! But with the recent news about a tigress beaten to death in India and after coming across some videos in the social media on the tiger encounters with humans, I hope the Indian govt. also works on bolstering education and awareness campaigns across the rural population on the man vs animal encounters and also works towards preserving the forests where these e…

How do you beat a tiger to death? I mean, i understand this is a serious issue, about conservation, rural education, the clash between individual families living next to dangerous animals and far away state administration but .. beating a tiger ?! With sticks?!

SFW: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/27/world/tiger-beaten-death-indi...

Info from the link, 4000 tigers remain on earth out of which 3000 in India.

Wow!! just wow, take a bow - to the rangers, the NGO`s, the Govt and the population, this is something the country can be really proud about. A country with a huge population and struggling to keep pace with the rapid industrialization this is very good news. Like someone else said in the thread long way to go but immensely positive signs :)

Question to the readers: Have tigers existed in the Americas ? Were they hunt to extinction or ?

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tiger to be afraid of is the one stealthily stalking you because it's starving and looking for prey it doesn't usually go after. One with a fresh kill isn't going to be very interested in you unless you come too close to it or its cubs.

I hear one way to tell you're being stalked by a predator is a sudden eerie silence, where all the birds etc. stop making noises.

Why would birds go silent when they see a tiger? They're not in danger. The only possible danger would be to their eggs/chicks in a nest and my experience there is they make noise when they perceive any possible intruder near their nests.

Re: India tiger census shows rapid population growth

#80
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear one way to tell you're being stalked by a predator is a sudden eerie silence, where all the birds etc. stop making noises.

Why would birds go silent when they see a tiger? They're not in danger. The only possible danger would be to their eggs/chicks in a nest and my experience there is they make noise when they perceive any possible intruder near their nests.

Jim Corbett was a Brit in India who had the job of hunting down a number of man-eating tigers, lived to tell about it, and wrote several books about it (recommended). He talks extensively about listening to the jungle as a tiger detection method - the monkeys freak out and call to warn each other about the predator, birds freak out and then disappear, etc. He paid attention to both unusual silences and unusual noises. There were still several occasions where he almost became tiger chow.
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