Where did the Bali Tiger Live

The Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris basilica) is one of the tiger subspecies that once thrived, as its name suggests, on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Unfortunately, it became extinct in 1937. It was one of the first subspecies of the tiger to disappear! The Java tiger and the Caspian tiger will join him between the years 1960 to 1990.

Impassioned by this intriguing disappeared fawn, we decided to write an article being entirely dedicated to him to present him to you and pay him homage. 🐯

What caused the feline to fall? Many factors such as the island's small size, the growing urbanization, reducing its territory, and the number of prey in the wild, deforestation, poaching, and many others.

Whether it is its physical characteristics, diet, habitat, or exact reasons for its disappearance, you will know everything there is to know about this intriguing, striped animal. Moreover, if you like the tiger, you have probably already wanted to decorate your apartment with a frame, a statue, or a hanging with the effigy of this magnificent animal.

We offer a wide range of tiger decorations available by clicking on the image below! And now, let's go!

Characteristics of the Bali Tiger

The Bali tiger differed from its fellow tigers mainly by its small size, its habitat, and also a little by its physical appearance. It looked a lot like the Sumatran tiger, which still lives on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Anyway, its smaller skull and lighter color prevent us from reversing the two and taking them for a single subspecies, as was the case before 1912. Let's discover without further ado all these characteristics!

Physical appearance

Although similar to its tiger cousins in its overall appearance and short fur of the same color as the latter, we can differentiate it on a few points. At the level of its stripes of less black bands interspersed with small black spots rather discreet between them. ✨

The head of the Timorese tiger also had a pattern specific to its subspecies. Finally, their belly was covered in white fur that stood out more than any other tiger in existence, thanks to the very dark orange fur on top.

Size and Weight of the Indonesian Fawn

The Bali tiger was considered the smallest tiger in the Indonesian islands! In the 20th century, there are only seven skins and skulls of Bali tigers were known to be kept in museums.

The common feature of all these skulls was the narrow occipital plane, which was a recurrent skull shape in the Javanese tiger. Male skins were 220-230 cm long from head to tail tip. Females ranged in size from 190 to 210 cm.

The weight of the males varied from 90 to 100 kg, and that of the females from 65 to 80 kg. In addition to being considered the smallest Tiger, it was considered the lightest tiger subspecies with a weight comparable to that of an African leopard or a North American cougar.

Breeding

The reproduction of the Bali tiger was very similar to that of other tigers, with a gestation period of the female Tiger ranging from 100 to 110 days. The only concern was that the females only bred every two years or so with a litter of only 2 to 3 newborns, one of the reasons this Tiger was lost.

What does the Bali Tiger eat?

Bali tigers were large carnivores and ate meat. The prey of the Bali tiger was very varied! It could find deer, wild boar (even wild pigs), monkeys, lizards, and wild chickens on the island. In all, his diet was very similar to other tigers.🦌

The Habitat of the Bali Tiger

Bali tigers lived in the island's forested areas, a territory ultimately quite small (as a reminder, the island of Bali has an area of 5,632.86 km2, equivalent to an average French department), which considerably limited their movements.

Most of the known zoological specimens of Bali tigers are native to the west of the island, where there are mangrove forests, dunes, and savanna vegetation.🌳

Why did the Bali Tiger go extinct?

Bali tigers were solitary animals that gathered only to breed. They maintained a territory of each Tiger at least 25.9 square kilometers. Since they lived on a small island, it's easy to see why these felines were already limited even before humans intervened.

Unfortunately, the latter's intervention still did a lot of damage to the point of wiping the species off the map. During the colonial period, Dutch came to the island; they caused a tremendous population loss because of their hunting methods. But before that, the natives of the island also frequently hunted them because they were perceived as a great threat.

Several distinct reasons led to the extinction of the Bali tiger. The small size of the island combined with the large hunting radius that the tiger needed to feed was probably the most relevant reason. 😐

In addition, the increase in human habitat and the hunting of the tiger contributed to its extinction. Mass agriculture (such as palm planting and rice paddies) is also a big part of it.

So there are no tigers left on the island of Bali?

Bali tiger, last known, was killed on September 27, 1937 precisely. It was a female! And, it is believed that the species itself survived for another ten to twenty years after this incident before becoming extinct. Today, it is estimated that there are no longer any Bali tigers, either on their native island or in captivity.

Unfortunately, all of the threats that the Bali tiger has experienced are still present for the remaining 4000 tigers in the wild today and could, if left unchecked, lead to the extinction of these subspecies and then to the tiger species itself.

To contribute to preserving these felines, Tiger-Universe supports the WWF with 1 USD per order. An excellent way to combine business with pleasure. Discover also without further delay our collection of tiger clothes by clicking on the image below! 🤩