Bornean tiger#In culture

File:Niah Great Cave, Sarawak, Malaysia.jpg in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo]]

As of 2021, only two specimens are confirmed as definitive Late Pleistocene fossil records of Bornean tigers. The first specimen, reported in 2007, is a metacarpal bone fragment of a young tiger dated to approximately 13,000 years ago.{{cite journal |author1=Piper, P. J. |author2=R. J. Rabett, Earl of Cranbrook |title=Confirmation of the presence of the tiger Panthera tigris (L.) in Late Pleistocene and Holocene Borneo |journal=Malayan Nature Journal |year=2007 |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=259–267 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284506355 |access-date=2018-05-29}} The second specimen, reported in 2021, is a partial mandible of a large tiger dated to approximately 22,000 years ago.{{cite journal|author=Sherani, S.|year=2021|title=Short notes on a second tiger (Panthera tigris) from Late Pleistocene Borneo|journal=Historical Biology|volume=33|issue=4|pages=|doi=10.1080/08912963.2019.1625348}} Archaeological excavations also produced an upper canine tooth and a navicular of a tiger, with the latter dated between 10,500 and 3,000 years BP, and thus the tiger was likely present in Borneo during the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

A bone fragment was also found in the Philippine island of Palawan, though archaeologists considered it unlikely that these fragments were traded between different regions during the Pleistocene. Two fossil bone fragments excavated at the Ille Cave on the island of Palawan in the Philippines were identified as being of a tiger. One fragment is a full basal phalanx bone of the second digit of the left manus measuring {{convert|46.44|mm|in|abbr=on}}; the other is the distal portion of a subterminal phalanx of the same digit and manus measuring {{convert|16.04|mm|in|abbr=on}}. These lengths are similar to those of living tigers from the Malay Peninsula and India.{{cite journal |last1=Piper |first1=P. J. |last2=Ochoa |first2=J. |last3=Lewis |first3=H. |last4=Paz |first4=V. |last5=Ronquillo |first5=W. P. |title=The first evidence for the past presence of the tiger Panthera tigris (L.) on the island of Palawan, Philippines: extinction in an island population |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |year=2008 |volume=264 |issue=1–2 |pages=123–127 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.003 |bibcode=2008PPP...264..123P}}

Borneo might have been connected to Palawan during the penultimate and previous glacial periods, judging from the molecular phylogeny of murids in the area.{{cite book |last1=Van der Geer |first1=A. |last2=Lyras |first2=G. |last3=De Vos |first3=J. |last4=Dermitzakis |first4=M. |title=Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |chapter=15 (The Philippines); 26 (Carnivores) |pages=220–347 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmSsNuwMAxgC&pg=PT219 |date=2011 |isbn=9781444391282}} Tiger parts were commonly used as amulets in South and Southeast Asia, so it is possible that the tiger parts found in Palawan were imported from elsewhere.{{cite book |editor-last=Monks |editor-first=G. |title=Climate Change and Human Responses: A Zooarchaeological Perspective |publisher=Springer Publishing |chapter=Tiger |last1=Ochoa |first1=J. |last2=Piper |first2=P. J. |pages=79–80 |isbn=978-9-4024-1106-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-hyDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |date=2017}}

It is also possible that the tiger crossed the Balabac Strait in the Middle Pleistocene, about 420,000–620,000 years ago, when the distance between Borneo and Palawan was shorter, and the sea level was lower, than today. During this period, the relative sea level decreased to about {{convert|-130|m|ft|abbr=on}} due to the expansion of ice sheets.{{cite journal |last1=Rohling |first1=E. G. |last2=Fenton |first2=M. |last3=Jorissen |first3=F. G. |last4=Bertrand |first4=P. |last5=Ganssen |first5=G. |last6=Caulet |first6=J. P. |year=1998 |title=Magnitudes of sea-level lowstands of the past 500,000 years |journal=Nature |volume=394 |issue=6689 |pages=162–165 |doi=10.1038/28134 |bibcode=1998Natur.394..162R |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242880001 |s2cid=4421184}}{{cite journal |last1=Waelbroeck |first1=C. |last2=Labeyrie |first2=L. |last3=Michel |first3=E. |last4=Duplessy |first4=J. C. |last5=McManus |first5=J. F. |last6=Lambeck |first6=K. |last7=Balbon |first7=E. |last8=Labracherie |first8=M. |year=2002 |title=Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=295–305 |doi=10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00101-9 |bibcode=2002QSRv...21..295W |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222662752}}{{cite journal |last1=Bintanja |first1=R. |last2=Van de Wal |first2=R.S.W. |last3=Oerlemans |first3=J. |year=2006 |title=Modelled atmospheric temperatures and global sea levels over the past million years |journal=Nature |volume=437 |issue=7055 |pages=125–128 |doi=10.1038/nature03975 |pmid=16136140 |s2cid=4347450 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46669469 |bibcode=2005Natur.437..125B}} To date, no evidence exists for the tiger surviving in Palawan beyond 12,000 years ago.

In 1975, Douchan Gersi claimed to have seen a tiger in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. He took two photographs of the animal.{{cite book |last=Gersi |first=D. |author-link=Douchan Gersi |title=Dans la jungle de Bornéo |publisher=Éditions G. P. |location=Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUPvHAAACAAJ |language=fr |year=1975}} These photos depict a tiger, but the authenticity of the photographs was doubted, and its origin remains unclear.{{cite journal |last=Meijaard |first=E. |date=1999 |title=The Bornean Tiger; Speculation on its existence |journal=Cat News |issue=30 |pages=12–15 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236898561}} It might have been an escaped captive animal. In 1995, native people in Central Kalimantan claimed to have heard a tiger roar, and that they were able to distinguish between a tiger's roar and vocalisations of other animals.

The Bornean tiger is considered to have been rather small in size.{{cite book |editor1=Seidensticker, J. |editor2=Jackson, P. |editor3=Christie, S. |title=Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes |author=Kitchener, A. C. |chapter=Tiger distribution, phenotypic variation and conservation issues |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=19–39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbQ8AAAAIAAJ |year=1999 |isbn=0521648351}} The native people suggest that it is bigger than a Bornean clouded leopard, as big as the Sumatran tiger, and largely brown in colour with faint stripes. The tiger is thought to have preyed on ungulate species such as the Bornean bearded pig, the Bornean yellow muntjac and the sambar deer. According to the local Dayak, the tiger did not climb trees.

{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width=

|image1=COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een groep Dajaks uit Màh Koelit Borneo TMnr 10005514 (cropped).jpg |caption1=A Dayak man in Kalimantan in traditional attire

|image2=East kalimantan coa.png |caption2=Coat of arms of East Kalimantan, featuring tiger stripes

}}

Natives of Borneo keep the memory of the tiger alive in their culture by treating its body parts as heirlooms; therefore, it has been suggested that the Bornean tiger survived longer than prehistoric times. Tiger claws were used as protective amulets among the Kenyah, Ngaju and Iban peoples, possibly for important ceremonies or to be worn by individuals of prominent status; vocabulary referring to the animal's presence (but also in avoidance speech) is also attested, such as aso for 'dog' or buang / bohang for 'bear', as a replacement in Kayanic languages. Tiger motifs are also seen depicted in traditional, ceremonial and modern carvings; additionally, tigers can be seen on weaved fabrics, such as mats and clothing, like the Iban pua kumbu.{{Cite book |last=Sellato|first=B. |date=2019 |title=The Other Tiger: History, Beliefs, and Rituals in Borneo |series=Temasek Working Paper No. 1 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies / Yusof Ishak Institute, Temasek History Research Center |place=Singapore |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337721424}}

• Sunda Islands

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• Tiger populations
• Mainland Asian populations
• Bengal tiger
• Caspian tiger
• Indochinese tiger
• Malayan tiger
• Siberian tiger
• South China tiger
• Sunda island populations
• Bali tiger
• Javan tiger
• Sumatran tiger

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• {{hlist|Prehistoric tigers: Panthera tigris soloensis | Panthera tigris trinilensis | Panthera tigris acutidens}}

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Category:Tigers

Category:Carnivorans of Malaysia

Category:Mammals of Indonesia

Category:Carnivorans of Borneo