Bali tiger
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Colored image from 1914: A Bali tiger from the Ringling Brothers Circus |
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| Panthera tigris balica | ||||||||||||
| Black , 1912 |
The Bali tiger ( Panthera tigris balica ) is a tiger subspecies that became extinct in the 20th century and was native to the Indonesian island of Bali . In a taxonomy revised in 2017, the extinct Bali and Java tigers and the critically endangered Sumatran tiger form a common subspecies Panthera tigris sondaica .
features
Less is known about the way of life and characteristics of the Bali tiger than about other subspecies, since the description by Ernst Schwarz in 1912 was based only on a skull and one skin from the collection of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt. There are no records that Bali tigers were ever kept in zoos and animal parks; The Bali tigers of the Ringling Brothers Circus , of which photos have been preserved, are an exception . Only a few skulls, bones or furs can be found in the collections of museums, such as the Hungarian Natural Science Museum . The present photographs show killed animals (partly colored later and with imprecise dating), paintings of Bali tigers are not made from living specimens either.
anatomy
The Bali tiger had a very small shoulder height of 60-68 cm compared to other tigers. The length (including tail) in the male was 200–220 cm with a mass of 100 kg, the female was smaller, 180–220 cm long and weighed 80 kg. The smaller size compared to other tigers is due to the insular restricted habitat and the significantly lower prey occurrence.
hide
The basic color of the fur was dark red to dark brown. Thus the Bali tiger had the darkest fur of all tiger subspecies. It was also the only species to have small dots and spots between the stripes that were extremely wide for a tiger. The underside showed some white areas.
nutrition
As a pure carnivore, this subspecies fed on the mammals found on Bali (ungulates, monkeys), but also on (aquatic) birds and reptiles.
Reproduction
As with the Java tiger, the gestation period of the Bali tiger was never evaluated by zoological studies. In general, a gestation period of 95 days is assumed.
Relationship to the Java Tiger
Despite the size differences and separate development, a very close relationship between the Bali tiger and the Java tiger is assumed. Due to a lack of DNA tests, no scientific DNA comparison was possible until 2015 . In general, two theories are accepted as possible among experts:
- One approach is based on the assumption that part of the island of Java dissolved during the Ice Age and became today's Bali. The tiger population split up, and two different subspecies subsequently developed independently of one another.
- Another approach is that the tigers swimming across the strait between Java and Bali (about 2.4 km) and thus divided the populations.
distribution
The Bali tiger was endemic to Bali , analogous to the Java tiger , which was also extinct, and the endangered Sumatran tiger . These three subspecies are also known as insular tigers . The last areas of retreat before its extinction were the mountain regions in the west of the island.
extermination
One reason for the extinction was excessive hunting by locals and European settlers. Bali tigers were lured into iron traps with the help of bait. The animals unable to escape were shot at from closer range. This type of "hunting" enjoyed great popularity among European settlers. Furthermore, the massive destruction of habitats in favor of agricultural use and wood extraction led to the steady decimation of the already small population.
Most sources agree that the last Bali tiger was shot on September 27, 1937 near Sumbar Kima in the west of the island. According to information from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , the Bali Barat National Park was established in 1941 as a refuge for the Bali tiger. The establishment of this national park suggests that the Bali tiger was able to assert itself on the island longer than until 1937. It is therefore believed that the Bali tiger was exterminated in the early 1940s.
Unconfirmed sightings
The island of Bali was owned by the Netherlands from 1908 to 1949, with the exception of the period between 1942 and 1945 when the Japanese occupied the island. Due to the chaos of war, there are no well-founded records of the fauna and especially the occurrence of the tiger in Bali. However, sightings of Bali tigers increased in the 1940s. In 1952 there was a further sighting by a Dutch forest manager, whose testimony was considered reliable. But in the end there was no proof in this case either. Further sightings date back to the 1970s, but have also remained unproven.
literature
- Vratislav Mazák : The tiger. Panthera tigris (= The new Brehm library. Vol. 356). 5th unaltered edition, reprint of the 3rd edition from 1983. Westarp Wissenschaften et al., Magdeburg et al. 2004, ISBN 3-89432-759-6 , pp. 172–178.
Web links
- Short profile Bali tiger; IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group in English
- Detailed information page
- The Tiger Foundation, Dr. Ron Tilson (Eng.)
- Panthera tigris ssp. Balica in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2007. Posted by: Nowell, K. (Cat Specialist Group), 2003. Retrieved on 22 May, 2008.
Individual evidence
- ^ Kitchener, AC et al .: A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group . In: Cat News . Special Issue 11, 2017 ( catsg.org [PDF]).
- ↑ Bali-Tiger , page 2 at www.lairweb.org.nz
- ↑ Bali-Tiger page 1 on www.lairweb.org.nz
- ↑ WWF - For a living planet - Tigers (eng.)
- ↑ IUCN Red List - Panthera tigris ssp. balica
- ↑ Bali-Tiger on www.lairweb.org.nz
- ↑ The Extinction Website - Panthera tigris balica ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
