150 
IVILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS 
CHAP. 
jungles which constitute their food. If the tiger has 
been born in jungles abounding with wild pigs and 
other animals, he will have been well fed since the 
day of his birth, therefore he will be a well-developed 
animal. 
A well-grown tigress may weigh an average of 
240 lbs. live weight. A very fine tiger will weigh 
440 lbs., but if very fat, the same tiger would weigh 
500 lbs. I have no doubt there may be tigers that 
exceed this by 50 lbs., but I speak according to my 
experience. 
The length of a tiger will depend upon the system 
of measurement. I always carry a tape with me, and 
I measure them before they are skinned, by laying 
the animal upon the ground in a straight line, and 
not allowing it to be stretched by pulling at the head 
or tail, but taking it naturally as it lies, measuring 
from nose to tip of tail. I have found that a tiger 
of 9 feet 8 inches is about 2 inches above the 
average. The same tiger may be stretched to mea¬ 
sure 10 feet. 
No person who examines skins only can form 
any idea of the true proportions of a tiger. The 
hide, when stripped from a tiger of 9 feet 7 inches, 
weighs 45 lbs. if the animal is bulky. The head, 
skinned, weighs 25 lbs. These weights are taken 
from an animal which weighed 437 lbs. exclusive of 
the lost blood, which was quite a gallon, estimated 
at 10 lbs. This would have brought the 
weight to 447 lbs. The hide of this tiger, which 
measured 9 feet 7 inches when upon the animal, 
