There is a considerable difference in the size of the male and female. I have both measured and weighed tigers, and I have found a great difference in their proportions, such as may be seen not only in many varieties of animals, but also in human beings; it is therefore difficult to decide upon the actual average tiger, as they vary in separate localities, according to the quantity of wild animals in the 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 measure 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, was 11 feet 4 inches in length when cured. I have measured many tigers, and the skins are always stretched to a ridiculous length during the process of curing; these would utterly mislead any naturalist who had not practical experience of the live animal.