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The only    beasts  that    enter   the myth    complex are those   that    kill    the

hunter  and those   into    which   he  is  transformed.^1

JOSEPH  FONTENROSE,

“Orion: The Myth    of  the Hunter  and the Huntress”

FROM THE START, THERE HAD BEEN NO QUESTION IN THE

MIND OF Trush’s squad mate, Sasha Lazurenko, that the tiger was a
male—not just any male, but an exceptionally large one. He had deferred
to Trush, his superior, and to the circumstantial evidence pointing toward
the avenging tigress because, initially, the tiger’s gender hadn’t seemed
that important. The most reliable way to determine the size of a tiger
without the tiger being present is by the paw prints. Typically, hunters
and biologists will measure the forepaw, specifically, the relatively
narrow “heel” which in Russian is called the pyatka (pyat-kuh). The value
of a pyatka measurement lies in its consistency: physiologically, it is
composed of a single heavy pad so it won’t spread or clench from step to
step the way the broader and more flexible toes can. The pyatka also
takes the most concentrated weight of each step and thus leaves the
deepest and clearest impression. A large female Amur tiger will have a
pyatka measurement of three and a half to four inches across the back of
the heel, while males will start there and can go as high as five inches or
more. Six inches is, at least by the standards of modern Amur tiger data, a
giant. A tiger with a pyatka that size could only be a male and would
probably weigh in the neighborhood of five to seven hundred pounds—
bigger than any wild lion.
Measurements were taken at the Markov site under favorable
conditions; it wasn’t a heavy snow year, so everything, as the hunters say,