"Big Terror" of Changa Nala
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| "Big Terror" on display at the Interntional Wildlife Museum | This magnificent male tiger, known as "Big Terror", was killed in the village of Changa Nala in northern India close to the border with Nepal. The tiger had wandered over a large area of India for several years, killing at least eight and perhaps as many as a dozen people. Travelers on the road, walking or on bicycle, wood cutters and forest guards - no one was safe.
Dr. Denver Coleman of Pasadena, California, hunted and eventually killed this tiger in 1969.
Big Tigers
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| Hunter Denver Coleman with "Big Terror" in Changa Nala, India, in 1969. | The largest Bengal tiger ever reported weighed 857 pounds, and measured 11 feet from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. The tiger in this exhibit measures just under 11 feet in length, and would have weighed 750 or more pounds, making it one of the largest. There are between 5,000 and 6,000 Bengal tigers left in the world today.
Bengal tigers are listed as Endangered and can no longer be legally hunted.
Why Do Tigers Eat People?
Wild Bengal tigers attack and kill about 100 people every year, while poachers kill about 50 tigers each year. Bengal tigers are much more likely to turn to humans as prey than are Siberian tigers.
One theory to explain why tigers eat humans is that they are old animals with badly worn or missing teeth that see humans as easy to kill and eat. Another theory attributes man-eating to human caused prey depletion in the tigers’ habitat.
Big Terror’s teeth, especially the sharp, piercing canines with which tigers kill their usual prey, were worn down completely, and it is unlikely that he could have hunted and killed his normal food.
Our thanks to the Coleman Family for this donation, and to Mary Lynn West, SCI Sables President for arranging the donation and transportation. |
