Tiger skin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  • Sumatran tiger skin

  • Java tiger skin from Kalitapakduwur (1915), extinct

The tiger is the largest of all living cats; in individual cases, male tigers can reach a head body length of over three meters. Their distribution area covers parts of Asia south of 52 ° north latitude.

The basic color of the tiger skin is yellowish red with black stripes at irregular intervals. The tone of the basic color and the density of the stripes vary in the area of ​​distribution. Pelts from southern occurrences are more pigmented than those from the north. In the winter fur, the stripes on some tigers even only appear brownish. The spots behind the ear are light to whitish, as are areas around the eyes, the underside of the body and the tail. Very light specimens ("white tigers") and almost black tigers appear rarely. The hair length decreases to the south in the distribution area. On the nape of the neck the hair is elongated, up to a slight mane formation. The fur is coarse and not very dense. The hair change takes place twice a year, in the tropical forms it is only slightly pronounced.

Tiger skins were only used for clothing purposes in western fashion for a short time, mostly as trophies for carpets and wall hangings.

The remaining occurrences are severely decimated, the species is classified by the IUCN as endangered ("Endangered"). According to the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species of March 3, 1973, the tiger is one of the animals threatened by total annihilation, it is listed in Appendix I of the agreement (absolute protection). Tiger skins and other parts of the animal may no longer be traded.

Differentiation according to tradition

  • Sibirian Tiger
The distribution area of ​​the Siberian tiger or Amur tiger used to extend from Lake Baikal to Korea and Sakhalin . Today it is on a narrow coastal strip on the Sea of Japan limited in the border area between North Korea, China and Russia, the main distribution area is the far east of Russia . There, its occurrence extends through the primorye the region (Primorski krai) up in the southern parts Khabarovsk . The river Amur forms the maximum western limit of its range today.
The Siberian tiger is the largest representative of its genus with a head body length of 1.40 to 2.80 meters, plus the tail with 60 to 95 centimeters. The thick coat is long-haired, light yellowish, the winter coat has almost no red tint. The dewlap is white up to the flanks. The Siberian tiger is usually much lighter than the southern subspecies, although the color tones can vary considerably, so there are also animals with dark reddish winter fur. The white on the belly and at the beginnings of the flanks is more extensive than in other subspecies, the stripes are often not black everywhere, but often more black-gray or gray-brown.
The hair length on the back in summer is 15 to 17 mm, on the belly between 25 and 45 millimeters. The neck hair is usually elongated and has a length between 30 and 55 millimeters. The whiskers measure between 70 and 85 millimeters and are significantly shorter compared to the Sumatran tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies. The winter hair is considerably longer at 40 to 60 millimeters, the belly hair is 70 to 105 millimeters in length and the whiskers are 90 to 120 millimeters long. The hair on the chest and throat are also elongated, so that the coat has a "shaggy" appearance due to the rather long hair. The Siberian tiger has 2500 hairs on the back and only 700 hairs on the belly in a square centimeter. There are 1.4 wool hairs on a top hair. The hair change takes place from March to April and from September to October.
  • Chinese tiger
The Chinese tiger is the most critically endangered of all tiger subspecies. Originally it was widespread in most of China, at the beginning of the 20th century it was still living in large parts of southern China. The northern border, where he was replaced by the Amurtiger, was about 40 degrees latitude. In the south it met the area of ​​the Indochina tiger in northern Guangxi , Yunnan and Guangdong , in the west it occurred along the mountain valleys far into the west of central China. Today he only lives in the mountains of the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Fujian , Hunan , Jiangxi and Zhejiang .
The fur of the Chinese tiger is smaller, the total length (including tail) of large males is on average 2.50 to 2.65 meters, that of the females is 2.30 to 2.40 meters, the length of the head of the males is about 1, 60 to 1.75 meters.
The coloring of the Chinese tiger is reddish ocher, almost rusty brown, more reddish than that of the king tiger. The white on the face and underside is also less extensive and turns creamy in some animals. The wide, deep black stripes are relatively far apart. They are usually double on the flanks and often break up into spots at the lower end. The tail rings are also wide and often double.
The hair is as long as that of the Bengal tiger, but the winter fur of the northern populations can be a little longer. Few pelts have elongated hair on the neck.
Fur suppliers in Cairo (1869)
  • Indochinese tiger
The center of the range of the Indochinese tiger is Thailand . Other countries where the Indochinese tiger can be found are Cambodia , Laos , the western part of Myanmar and Vietnam . In southern China, the subspecies is likely to have become extinct in recent years. The very small populations today are in Laos, Myanmar (west), Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Males can reach a total length (with tail) of 2.55 to 2.75 meters, females 2.30 to 2.55 meters. The fur of the Indonesian tiger is lighter than that of the Chinese tiger, but darker than the Indian and has numerous, closely spaced stripes. The basic color is reddish to ocher brown. The white-colored areas in the lower body sections and around the eyes correspond to those of the Bengal tiger. The stripes are numerous, quite short and narrow, and generally pure black.
  • Java Tiger
The Java tiger , formerly native to the Indonesian island of Java, is believed to be extinct in the 1980s. The main causes were uneasy political conditions and an extremely large increase in land use as well as the associated conflicts with the people living there.
Java tigers were very small compared to their mainland relatives, but larger than another form of island, the Bali tiger (likely extinct in the early 1940s). The fur of male animals had a head trunk length of 2.00 to 2.45 meters, female animals were smaller. The pattern consisted of long, thin stripes that were a little more numerous than the neighboring Sumatran tiger, the only living island form of the tiger.
  • Indian tiger , often also Bengal or King tiger
The Indian tiger , there are significant deposits only in India, small populations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, in Pakistan it is extinct.
The Indian tiger is smaller than the Siberian, but particularly impressively drawn. The male King Tiger is measured from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail, between 2.70 and 3.10 meters long, in exceptional cases over 3.60 meters, the females reach 2.40 to 2.70 meters.
The basic color of the fur is bright red-gold. The belly side and the inside of the legs are white. The relatively wide, black horizontal stripes run from the head over the whole body to the tip of the tail, they are closer together than in the Chinese tiger. The hind legs are also striped in the same way. The stripes are often doubled and are particularly long on the sides and thighs. The tail has 8 or 9 rings, they are quite wide and also often doubled.
The so-called "white tigers" only occur sporadically in nature in the Bengal tiger. All white tigers living in captivity go back to the tiger "Mohan", who was discovered in 1951 as a cub during a hunt by Martand Singh , the Maharaja of Rewa , in the jungle of Bandhavgarh . All white tigers bred are his descendants. The cultivated varieties "snow tiger" (all white), "golden tiger" (yellow with pale stripes) etc. can also be traced back to him.
Salesman with Tiger Skin (London, 1886)
Another, equally extremely rare color variant is the "black tiger", which, like the white tiger , is reported in legends and in Chinese mythology . It is an overpigmentation or extreme expression of the black stripes compared to the basic color, which make the fur appear almost black. A similar overpigmentation can be found, for example, in cheetah fur .
The hair length of the King Tiger is 8 to 15 millimeters on the summer coat and between 20 and 30 millimeters on the belly. The hair does not show any major differences in the nape of the neck, measuring 20 to 66 millimeters. The whiskers are 50 to 90 millimeters long. In winter, the hair on the back is between 17 and 25 millimeters long. The hair on the neck and whiskers is also between 5 and 10 millimeters longer in winter.
  • Sumatran tiger
The Sumatran tiger only lives on the Indonesian island of Sumatra , making it the most southerly living subspecies of the tiger. The Sumatran tiger was once widespread across the island. Today it lives protected in the Barisan Selatan National Park , some specimens are in the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park , no current information is available about the occurrences in the Gunung Leuser National Park in northern Sumatra.
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest living subspecies of the tiger. The skins of males have a total length (with tail) of 240 to 250 centimeters. The total length of the skins of female animals is between 215 and 230 centimeters.
Like the other insular, southern subspecies, the coat has a very strong basic coat color. This varies from a very dark orange to reddish-dark ocher colors. The light color of the Sumatran tiger on the belly or the inside of the legs is never pure white, as is the case with the King Tiger or the Siberian Tiger, for example, but rather cream-colored. Usually the fur is more thickly striped than that of the Indian tiger. The very dark overall impression is reinforced by the stripes, which are deep black, very wide and sometimes doubled or even tripled. As with all southern species, the stripe drawing turns into spots towards the end. The pattern is also very pronounced on the front legs. In comparison, the mainland subspecies rarely have one or two horizontal stripes on the front legs, while these are regularly present in the Sumatran tiger. Compared to other subspecies of the tiger, the Sumatran tiger has more expressive and denser stripes on the inside and back of the front legs. The number of tail rings is eight to ten, although these are usually doubled. The base of the tail has an elongated pattern and consists of two to three irregular stripes or rings.
The hair of the Sumatran tiger is short-haired, it has a length of 8 to 11 millimeters, whereby a mane is often indicated on the neck of the male animals. The length of the hair on the neck is between 110 and 130 millimeters, and the hair on the chest is also comparatively longer than on the rest of the body. The whiskers, the hair length of which can be 80 to 120 millimeters, is particularly pronounced in this subspecies and thus underlines the mane-like overall impression of the coat.
  • Caspian tiger
The Caspian tiger , too , became finally extinct around the 1990s, beginning in the late 19th century, as is now assumed to be certain. In the 19th century he lived in the Talysh Mountains and the Lenkoran lowlands, in the lowlands of Prishib, the eastern plains of Transcaucasia and in the Zangezur mountain range in northwest Iran, in Central Asia in southwest Turkmenia along the Atrak river and its tributaries Sumbar and Tschandyr , in the west and southwest of the Kopet-Dag mountain range, in the vicinity of Ashgabat in the northern foothills, in Afghanistan along the river Hari Rud near Herat , in the region around Tejen and Murgab along the rivers Kuschka and Kaschan , in the delta of the Amu Darya to the Aral Sea , along the Syr Darya , in the Fergana Valley to Tashkent and in the western foothills of the Talas-Alatau , along the entire coast of the Aral Sea, along the Tschüi and Ili rivers , along the south coast of Lake Balkhash and in the north to the southern foothills of the Altai Mountains.
It was less massive in physique than the Siberian tiger, the total length was about 2.70 meters, with a head body length of 1.78 to 1.97 meters, in females 2.60 to 2.80 meters with a head body length of 1, 50 to 1.65 meters.
The skin of the Caspian tiger was similar in color to that of the king tiger. Compared to the Indian tiger, it had narrower, longer and even more narrowly distributed dark stripes, brownish on the sides. The stripes were lighter than any other subspecies. The hair was long and thick, especially the mane of the abdomen was very long. No Caspian tiger survived in the zoo either, so that only a few photographs, a few prepared specimens and a few furs remain as evidence.
Tiger skin as an attribute of the Tibetan six-armed Yeshe Gönpo

History, trade

The resulting tiger skins were mainly used as trophies for most of the time, as such they were made into carpets and wall hangings. In earlier centuries the skins of the spotted big cats (leopard or panther, jaguar) were often referred to as tiger skins.

Further uses for tiger skins were around 1800: horse blankets in Persia, covers over upholstery in China, clothing lining in Poland, in the rest of Europe tiger skins were used more frequently for cavalry horse blankets in addition to leopard skins . Some of them were used to cover wagons and sedan chairs. However, Chinese tiger skins rarely entered international trade; they were consumed in the country itself. In 1785, however, the import list of the Russian trading place Kiachta , located on the Chinese border, mentions panthers and tigers as the only imports of fur, while large quantities of furs were traded in the opposite direction. The "Yenbans" of the Korean ruling class often had a tiger skin spread over their seat of honor. In Benares , India in particular, very beautiful brooches and earrings were made from tiger paws. The tobacco shop Emil Brass reported that the tiger claws were very popular as amulets in China. If you bought a tiger skin you had to be very careful not to get your paws stolen from under your hands.

At the beginning of the Second World War (1939–1945) there were only a few companies in what was then the world center of the fur trade, Leipziger Brühl , which were dedicated to the naturalization of the fur of big cats, bears, etc. The business opportunities for trading and processing these skins were slim. For military purposes, however, leopards and tiger skins were used. In Austria-Hungary, saddlecloths made of tiger and leopard skin were used for high-ranking military personnel , in Hungary for the hussar uniform and for members of the Royal Life Guard . In some countries in the 18th century the officers wore a tiger skin or leopard skin covering their backs on special days and at gala events , as did the officers Ziethen -Husars of the Prussian Army . The fur was held together by a metal clasp on the chest.

Improved fur trimming methods made it possible since around 1950 to tan leather thinner and easier, so that tiger skins could also be made into jackets and coats. Although a few thousand skins are said to have been on the market around 1950, the smaller part was probably made into clothing at the time. The demand for the fur with its distinctive and striking stripes continued to be within narrow limits, but very soon a specialist book warned the fur industry unequivocally that the processing of this species, which is already threatened with extinction, was irresponsible. In 1971 the International Fur Trade Federation issued a recommendation, pronounced as a “total ban”, not to sell tiger skins any more. Since March 3, 1973, trade in the states affiliated to the Washington Convention on Endangered Species has been prohibited by law.

An article in Der Spiegel from 2005 reports that at the time, in addition to other big cat skins, tiger skins, mostly from India, were smuggled into Tibet and offered there openly. These furs are an integral part of ancient rituals in Tibet: there the furs are incorporated into traditional costumes, the so-called chubas, which used to be used only as jewelry by kings and wealthy warlords. In Tibet, tiger skins curled around the hips also traditionally characterize the seemingly terrifying Buddhist protective deities. The tiger skin is also considered an attribute of Dhamartala, "who, as a lay follower of Buddhist teaching, accompanied the sixteen arhats who are venerated as saints".

One of the essential attributes of the Hindu god Shiva is a loincloth made from tiger skin.

  • Use of tiger skins

  • Turkish standard bearer with tiger skin slung around his neck (before 1697)

  • Saddlecloth (France, around 1812)

  • Dayak warriors with tiger fur cape (undated)

  • Wall hanging (2014)

  • Rugs (2014)

Numbers and facts

  • In 1864 , the Leipzig tobacco shop Heinrich Lomer announced the wholesale of tiger and lion skins with 500 pieces.
  • In 1900 Larisch and Schmidt give 500 skins for Asia and 250 skins for Africa. However, there are tigers only in Asia, so the number given for Africa can only refer to the skins of leopards or cheetahs (hunting leopards). On the other hand, OKEN, Mammethiere Volume 2 (1838) emphasizes that the panther in Africa is called the tiger. It is possible that panther skins or leopard skins were then traded as tiger skins.
  • For 1907 Emil Brass gives an average annual incidence of 500 tiger skins;
300 heads per year for 1923 to 1924 .
Deviating from this figure (300 skins), however, Brass gives the following quantities for the more important regions (provenances) that were supplied to European wholesalers:
Siberian Tiger ; 50 to 100 skins
Northern Tiger , Manchu Tiger; 200 skins; Price per fur 600 to 1500 marks
Hankow Tiger ; Price per fur 200 to 500 marks
Southern tiger , Amoy tiger; 300 skins; 150 to 200 marks each
Korea Tiger ; 30 to 40 skins; 250 to 500 marks each
Bengal tiger . Only a few pelts came on the market. European hunters kept the prey as a trophy. Furs captured by local hunters were mostly sold to tourists in bazaars (Calcutta, Delhi, etc.).
Caspian - Persian tiger ; several 100 skins
  • 1913 : The respected tobacco company Heinrich Lomer from Leipzig offered in its price list for winter 1913/1914 :
Bengal tiger.
Complete with noses and claws.
M. pr. piece
Extra fine, extra large smoke 900 - 1200
    do. big smoke 700-850
Fine big smoke 550-650
Large medium smoke 350-450
Medium fine 350-450
Big flatter ones 225-300
Lesser and smaller 150-200
Uncomplete accordingly cheaper.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the assistance of 11 specialists: Fur Animal Atlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 221-223.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel ´s Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. Revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, pp. 93-94 (according to figures from communications from the World Wildlife Fund).
  3. ↑ a b c d e V. Mazák: Panthera tigris. ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF, 1.1 MB): mammalian species. 152: 1-8 (1981). (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.science.smith.edu
  4. ↑ Panthera tigris ssp. corbetti in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010.4. Posted by: Lynam, AJ & Nowell, K., 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  5. ^ Mazák, JH, Groves, CP (2006) A taxonomic revision of the tigers (Panthera tigris) . Mammalian Biology 71 (5): 268–287 full text as pdf ( memento of the original from September 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / arts.anu.edu.au
  6. ↑ a b Thorsten Milse, Uta Henschel: The eyes of the jungle. In the realm of the Indian tiger. , P. 181
  7. ↑ Johnson, P. (1991) The birth of the Modern World Society, 1815-1830. HarperCollins Publishers, New York. ISBN 0-06-016574-X
  8. ^ VG Geptner, AA Sludskii (1972) Mlekopitaiuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Vysšaia Škola, Moskva. (Original in Russian; English translation: VG Heptner et al. (1992) Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2: Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats). Smithsonian Institute and the National Science Foundation, Washington DC). Pages 95-202.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Paul Schöps: Fellwerk der Großkatzen . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Neue Episode Vol. XXI No. 2, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, 1971, pp. 3-16.
  10. ^ D. Johann Heinrich Moritz Poppe: Johann Christian Schedels new and complete wares lexicon. Second part M to Z, fourth completely improved edition , Verlag Carl Ludwig Brede, Offenbach am Mayn 1814. p. 499.
  11. ^ Paul Schöps: Fellwerk der Großkatzen . Primary source: GH Buse: The whole of the plot . Erfurt 1801, Volume IV, Theil I., pp. 110-110.
  12. ↑ Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 2nd improved edition, publisher of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925, pp. 473–482.
  13. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and rough goods. XXI. Tape. Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951. Keyword “Tiger”.
  14. ↑ Fritz Schmidt : The book of the fur animals and fur . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, p. 159.
  15. ↑ spiegel.de: Furs for Protze . Issue No. 40, October 1, 2005.
  16. ↑ Birgitta Huse, Irmgard Hellmann de Manrique, Ursula Bertels: People and animals worldwide. Insights into special relationships (Google eBook) . Waxmann Verlag, 2011, p. 221. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  17. ↑ Śiva, the ascetic God . Explanation board in the Asian section of the Linden Museum Stuttgart. From a copy dated December 28, 2016.

See also

Commons : Tiger Skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Tiger Skin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files