Tiger Foot Size

Tiger foot size: More than 11 centimetres or 4.3 inches is the width of the hind feet of an individual male tiger in Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park so says Charles McDougall, a scientist working as a Smithsonian Research Associate. A website says that the Sunquists in Wild Cats of the World write that the width of the tiger's front paw varies from between 15 and 17.5 cms (although I could not find this in the book). There has to be considerable variation because Amur (Siberian tigers) are generally larger than Bengal tigers and, of course, individual tigers vary in size.

The image below is approximately to scale - a life sized male tiger paw print - at just under 14 centimetres across - top to bottom in the picture. It is on its side and cropped because it would be far too large for the page if it was presented upright. Female Bengal tiger hind paws in the area he studied were less than 11 cms in width, says Mr McDougall

Tiger Foot Size

Imagine a tiger walking in front of you. I just think it is interesting to get a feel for the actual size of a tiger's foot. Charles McDougall could identify individual adult tigers from pugmarks (foot prints best seen in moist compact sand).

He could do this when the tiger had incurred an injury to the foot. Tiger foot injuries usually affect the forefeet because it is with the forelimbs that tiger fight. When two tigers fought he found that the paw pads of one tiger had become more splayed out. This was particularly so for the right forefoot. Perhaps this tiger was right handed?

Note (tiger foot size) : Inserted photo by Ma Rui. Read more about the tiger.