Animal of the Day: The Caspian Tiger (EXTINCT)

[Im Still Ballin]

The Caspian tiger, Panthera tigris virgata, once ranged in Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Mongolia, and the Central Asiatic area of Russia and probably went extinct in the 1950s. Three tiger subspecies are considered to have become extinct in the past 70 years, the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers.

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris virgata Range: Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Mongolia, and the Central Asiatic area of Russia

Colour image at Berlin Zoo, 1899:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Caspian_tiger.JPG


Tigers were already widespread in Asia one and a half million years ago. However, recent genetic research suggests that they nearly became extinct in the late Pleistocene Era, probably about 10,000-12,000 years ago. A small remnant population survived, probably in what is now China. From this area tigers then spread out again, migrating along river valleys following their prey, mostly deer and wild pigs. Although all mainland tigers are very closely related, and may be regarded as regional populations rather than as discrete subspecies, they have developed physical or morphological adaptations to different environmental conditions.

The two varieties of tigers in the former Soviet Union represented the most easterly and westerly populations of the great cat. Amur tigers prowl the rich mixed forests in the southern Russian Far East on the Sea of Japan, while Caspian or Turanian tigers (Panthera tigris virgata) were the most westerly ranging tigers. They inhabited the basins of inland drainage of western and central Asia, wherever there was adequate prey, water and vegetation cover.

Range in 1900:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Panthera_tigris_virgata_dis.png


These magnificent great cats had thick, plush winter coats usually of a more reddish background colour than Amur tigers, with closer set black or sometimes brown stripes, long white belly fur and beard, though their summer coats were shorter. A little smaller than their Far Eastern relatives, adult male Caspian tigers weighed 170-240 kg and measured 270-290 cm in total length.

They were found from Turkey and Transcaucasia, in the reed beds and gallery forests along the great rivers of Central Asia, east to the edges of the lakes of Lop Nur and Bagrash Kul in Xinjiang Province, formerly known as Chinese Turkestan.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/resources/listimg/news/2009_jan/Caspian_tiger@body2.JPG

[QUOTE]The Caspian tiger

[Nick Young]

LOL EXTINCT DOE.

GET REKT


Siberian>Caspian

[JohnFreeman]

Informative thread. Thanks.

[Smook B]

LOL EXTINCT DOE.

GET REKT


Siberian>Caspian

It's endangered. :(

[Trollsmasher]

humans stay winnin'

[BasedTom]

rest in peace

[Im Still Ballin]

LOL EXTINCT DOE.

GET REKT


Siberian>Caspian
[QUOTE]Tigers took the silk route
January 2009. DNA from an extinct sub-species of tiger has revealed that the ancestors of modern tigers migrated through the heart of China - along what would later become known as

[Nick Young]

It's very similar to the Siberian.
Why don't we just call it a Siberian Tiger then, and say that the species used to roam as far west as the Caspian Sea?

Why classify two species when it's really the same species living in a different geographic region?

[Im Still Ballin]

Why don't we just call it a Siberian Tiger then, and say that the species used to roam as far west as the Caspian Sea?

Why classify two species when it's really the same species living in a different geographic region?
Because


The relationship is so close that the mitochondrial DNA of the two sub-species differs by just a single nucleotide.

That small difference matters

They look slightly different, roamed in different climates/regions and preyed on different living beings that consummated their diet. They are different historically from their recounts over recorded history, to their human interactions during those periods.

[Nick Young]

WTF is a nucleotide.


Good thread 10/10

This series has potential to win the Thread Series of the Year award 2016 ISH Awards at the pace its going.

[Im Still Ballin]

WTF is a nucleotide.


Good thread 10/10

This series has potential to win the Thread Series of the Year award 2016 ISH Awards at the pace its going.
Do you believe there are distinct features and differences among human races? The difference in genome makeup is so tiny, yet a difference only that big is extremely significant.

[Patrick Chewing]

I wanna see some extinct humans soon. These beautiful animals need to stop going extinct.

[SpaceJam]

Educational piece, thanks OP

Hope to see more from you

[Im Still Ballin]

Educational piece, thanks OP

Hope to see more from you
:applause:

[bdreason]

What's sad is that one day all of these amazing creatures will be extinct. Replaced by 8 billion humans. :facepalm

[CavaliersFTW]

Big cats! Reminds me of when I used to do paleontology art.

By the time we are old I predict most of the pantherine group of big cats will be extinct. Most have already been decimated to small pockets and parks which can not sustain them long-term. Population of humans just has no room to keep enough of the planet "wild" for these kinds of animals and they're being isolated to small forests and genetically bottlenecked to like 7 breeding pairs at any given moment with no wild space between parks for the animals to traverse. Populations of animals like tigers have declined like 95% in just 100 years - with many of the subspecies (such as the Caspian tiger) already being wiped out.

Save for possibly the Siberian subspecies, tigers will be just a zoo species in 50 years. I reserve the Siberian subspecies as a candidate for survival so long as it isn't poached to extinction by the Chinese because although it isn't the most numerous of tigers (maybe a few hundred alive in the wild at any given time), it has an unbroken wild habitat that has yet to be divided by towns, roads, and cities.

[DonD13]

beautiful, skrong cat :applause:

RIP

[CavaliersFTW]

Interesting fact: Tigers and Lions used to have a large overlap of population. Caspian range was one of those areas, (as was entire Bengal tiger range) where Asiatic subspecies of lions lived.

Though Lions typically lived/hunted in open plains where as Tigers prefer woodland.

Asiatic lions are still not "extinct". They once lived all over southeast Europe, the middle east and throughout the entire country of India not more than 2 hundred years ago. They now live only in one park and come from only a few breeding lions that managed to survive like 100 years ago so they're all inbred af. The Gir forest in India.

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/77318000/jpg/_77318565_164363564.jpg

[Im Still Ballin]

Interesting fact: Tigers and Lions used to have a large overlap of population. Caspian range was one of those areas, (as was entire Bengal tiger range) where Asiatic subspecies of lions lived.

Though Lions typically lived/hunted in open plains where as Tigers prefer woodland.

Asiatic lions are still not "extinct". They once lived all over southeast Europe, the middle east and throughout the entire country of India not more than 2 hundred years ago. They now live only in one park and come from only a few breeding lions that managed to survive like 100 years ago so they're all inbred af. The Gir forest in India.

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/77318000/jpg/_77318565_164363564.jpg
Have you read about the historical accounts of Lion v Tiger fights? Quite fascinating really. I remember reading that an Indian King had a famous Bengal Tiger who had slain many Lions, and they brought in a Barbary Lion which was the biggest most ferocious lion subspecies, as they thought it was to prove a match for the Bengal. The Bengal destroyed the Lion.

[Im Still Ballin]

Wait here it is;


At the end of the 19th century, the Gaekwad of Baroda arranged a fair fight between a Barbary lion and a Bengal tiger before an audience of thousands as the Asiatic lions were no match for the Bengal tigers. The Gaekwad favoured the lion, and as a result had to pay 37,000 rupees as the lion was mauled by the tiger.


In India, towards the end of the 19th Century, the Gaekwad of Baroda arranged a fair fight between a Barbary lion called 'Atlas', from the Atlas Mountains between Algeria and Morocco, and a Bengal tiger from the Indian region of Shimla, both big and hungry, before an audience of thousands, instead of between the Asiatic lion of India, and the tiger, as Asiatic lions were believed to be no match for Bengal tigers.

The tiger was more than ten feet long, over four feet at the shoulder, had long teeth and claws, had strong shoulders, and was agile. The lion looked taller at the head than the tiger, and had large legs, mane and paws. Gettysburg Complier commented that "If the tiger was the personification of graceful strength and supple energy, the lion was the embodiment of massive power and adamantine muscle."

The tiger crawled forward, crouched flat and calculated the distance for a spring, and then jumped onto Atlas. Atlas rose up on his hind legs, and crashed with the tiger. The two yelled, snarled and rolled over on the ground. They regained their feet and shook to be free. When they parted from the clinch, Atlas swung his right, clawed, paw on the tiger's head, ripping its ear, and scratching off skin. The tiger rolled off, Atlas went to get the tiger, swiping its paw, but the tiger managed to twist away from the paw-swipe, and escaped. Atlas advanced, but the tiger retreated, then jumped into the air, landing on Atlas' back, though it was twenty feet away. At first, Atlas looked disgusted, but then it forced the tiger to the wall of the arena, before the tiger ran, with its head nearly at the ground, towards Atlas' legs.

Despite a crash, the tiger's head did not shake, and the two cats rose on their hind legs. For at least three minutes, they exchanged right and left paw swipes. Although the tiger's paw-swipes were faster than those of Atlas, out-numbering Atlas' paw-swipes three-to-one, Atlas' paw swipes had more been heavier, inflicting deeper gashes on the tiger's hide. Both cats injured, they retreated from each other, with blood flowing from their flanks. The tiger retreated to the wall, to hug it, whereas Atlas angrily roared and stood his ground, even though blood was dripping from about twenty wounds. After resting for a few moments, the tiger tried to circle Atlas, with Atlas looking worried, as his rushes did not stop the tiger at first. Then, sensing an opportunity, Atlas charged, but the tiger avoided the charge, and jumped onto Atlas' back again.

Their bodies, bloodied and dirtied by the dust, rolled halfway across the arena. Atlas shook himself off the tiger, and delivered right swipes. One of the swipes dealt a blow to the tiger, causing it to stagger and retreat. The tiger sat, studying how effective the previous tussle was. Atlas was mauled, but not yet killed, with two long rips on his back, having deep bites to the shoulder, which bled, and hoarsely panting, with the wind flowing less evidently than those of the tiger.

After observing Atlas for a moment, he tried circling Atlas again. Atlas rushed, facing the tiger's claws. After that, the lion, running out of breath, sank to his knees, whereas the tiger, though looking stronger, had its stripes disappear under fast-flowing blood. The tiger sprang onto Atlas, who was staggering, biting Atlas' nose, and then trying to bite Atlas' throat. However, the mane saved Atlas' neck, so the tiger's bite did not suffocate Atlas. Instead, as they wrestled much, the tiger managed to get hair in its mouth, and the hair interfered with the tiger's respiration, so it had to release its hold on Atlas, allowing Atlas to deliver a massive left uppercut, causing the tiger to stumble to about twenty feet away. Although Atlas now looked formidable on his legs, and brave, he could not catch the tiger, and the tiger darted towards him.

Atlas used his claws, but missed the tiger, and went over with it. The tiger frantically pawed Atlas' body, using both fore and hind paws, for forty seconds. Then Atlas, in its last effort, threw the tiger off, roared, fell down, and died. As a result, the Gaekwad agreed to pay 37,000 rupees, accepted that the tiger was the "King of the Cat Family," and decided to prepare the tiger for a battle with a Sierra Grizzly bear weighing over 1,500.00 lb (680.39 kilograms), to determine which of these was the "King of Carnivorae." The battle was to happen after the tiger recovered from its wounds given to it by Atlas.[2][9]

[gigantes]

humans stay winnin'
not really.

more like, the more we meddle with the natural conditions that propagated us, the more we sabotage our own future.

[JohnnySic]

One day humans will be the extinct. What a grand day that will be. :cheers:

[Long Duck Dong]

.


Good thread 10/10

This series has potential to win the Thread Series of the Year award 2016 ISH Awards at the pace its going.

Underrated thread :cheers:

[n00bie]

What's sad is that one day all of these amazing creatures will be extinct. Replaced by 8 billion humans. :facepalm

Or maybe we'll be extinct?