The photo of a killed Bali Tiger is send to The Extinction Website by: John Burkitt, Program Director of Cougar Hill Sanctuary Association. The photograph surfaced amongst the papers of the hunter who shot it in 1925. Little more is known. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
The taxonomic affinity of Southeast Asian tigers has been re-investigated by J.H. Mazák and C.P. Groves. Specimens of four traditionally recognized tiger (Panthera tigris) subspecies were examined using various craniological methods, including multivariate craniometric and phenetic analysis. They conclude that Sumatran tigers differ absolutely (100%) from the geographically neighbouring mainland form Panthera tigris corbetti; and that the Javanese tiger is also 100% distinguishable from the Sumatran. According to these scientists they are therefore regarded as two distinct species (Panthera sumatrae, Panthera sondaica) under the Phylogenetic Species Concept (PSC). The Bali tiger is than classified as a subspecies of the Javanese tiger, Panthera sondaica balica. (Mazák and Groves 2006) However for now, The Extinction Website still regards the Bali tiger as Panthera tigris balica. This may change when there is consensus among scientists about its true taxonomy.
The Bali tiger was the smallest subspecies of the tiger Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758). Its weight did not exceed 100 kg. Its size was comparable with the size of a leopard and it was only about half the size of the Siberian (Amur) tiger subspecies. The Bali tiger is apart from its small size, very similar to the Javan subspecies (also extinct), with the same dense pattern of stripes, but perhaps a shade darker. The Bali tiger had a short, dense fur that was of a deep orange colour and carried darker and fewer stripes than the other tiger subspecies. The stripes were wide and tended to branch out. Between the stripes there appeared occasional small black spots. Light areas were of a clear white colour and this subspecies had unusual bars on the head. The skull of the Bali tiger can be identified due to differences in the teeth and nasal bone, which distinguish it from the other subspecies.
Because Bali is a small island, the tiger
population on Bali must always have been quite low. Rapid increase in the
human population and a rising demand for agricultural land lead to
deforestation. This has led to the destruction and fragmentation of the
already small tiger habitat. At the beginning of the 20th century, tigers
probably survived only in the mountainous and relatively sparsely
populated western part of the island. Here hunting pressure increased as
the country was gradually opened up and many Europeans living in Java
organised hunting trips to Bali. As early as the mid-1930s most Bali
tigers were museum or trophy specimens. Both trophy hunters and locals
carried new and more-efficient firearms. Between the two World Wars the
Bali tiger was hunted indiscriminately and by the end of World War II the
Balinese subspecies is thought to have disappeared altogether.
The last Bali tigers lived in the
north-western tip of the island. The last well-documented specimen was
killed there at Sumbar Kima, West Bali, on 20th or 27th
September 1937. This was an adult tigress.
The National Museum of Natural History “Naturalis” in Leiden, the Netherlands, has one skin, a skull, and some bones of the Bali tiger. The skin is from a young adult that has probably been killed at the end of 1933 by a Dutch medical doctor living on Java. It has been used as a floor rug so it is fairly worn and faded.
The Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, has the holotype of the Bali tiger. Its collection contains a skin and a skull of a subadult (or very young adult) female shot in 1909 by K. Gründler in Den Pasar region in South Bali. (Mazák et al. 1978)
The Naturkunde-Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, has two skulls of adult females. One originates from Medevi, Central Bali from 4 August 1924. The other one originates from Poeloekan (=Pulukan) in Central Bali from 16 September 1926. (Mazák et al. 1978)
The British Museum (Natural History) in London, United Kingdom, has two skins and three skulls. One skin and skull are of an adult male from Sendang, North Central Bali. It was received in the museum on 1 December 1937. Another skin and skull are f an adult male from "Bali Island" and was received by the museum on 4 March 1938. A skull of an adult female from Prapat Agoeng, West Bali was also received by the museum on 4 March 1938. (Mazák et al. 1978)
The Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in Bogor, Indonesia, has a skin and skull of an adult female shot near the kampung of Sumber Kima, West Bali on 27 September 1937. (Mazák et al. 1978)
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Mazák J.H., C.P. Groves. 2006. A taxonomic revision of the tigers (Panthera tigris) of Southeast Asia. Mammalian biology 71, 5:268–287. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde. http://arts.anu.edu.au/grovco/tiger%20SEAsia%20Mazak.pdf
Mazák J.H., C.P. Groves, J.H. van Bree. 1978. On a skin and skull of the Bali Tiger, and a list of preserved specimens of Panthera tigris balica (Schwarz, 1912). Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 43:108-113.
Last
updated: 15th December 2007.
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