Caspian tiger
| Caspian tiger | |
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| Captive Caspian tiger, Berlin Zoo, 1899 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | P. tigris |
| Subspecies: | P. t. virgata |
| Trinomial name | |
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Panthera tigris virgata Illiger, 1815 |
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| Original distribution (in dark grey) | |
The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), also called the Persian tiger, Hyrcanian tiger, Turanian tiger, and Mazandaran tiger, is an extinct tiger subspecies that had been recorded in the wild before the end of the 20th century, and formerly inhabited the sparse forest habitats and riverine corridors west and south of the Caspian Sea, from Turkey, Iran and east through Central Asia into the Takla Makan desert of Xinjiang, China. Their diet probably consisted of mainly wild pigs and deer, and to a lesser extent, horses and jungle cats. The Caspian tiger was one of the biggest cats to have ever lived.
It is closely related to the Siberian tiger. It has been described as being intermediate between Siberian and Bengal tigers.
Photographs of skins of Caspian and Amur tigers indicate that the main background colour of the Caspian tiger's pelage varied and was generally brighter and more uniform than that of the Siberian tiger. The stripes were narrower, fuller and more closely set than those of tigers from Manchuria. The colour of its stripes were a mixture of brown or cinnamon shades. Pure black patterns were invariably found only on the head, neck, the middle of the back and at the tip of the tail. Angular patterns at the base of the tail were less developed than those of Far Eastern populations. The contrast between the summer and winter coats was sharp, though not to the same extent as in Far Eastern populations. The winter coat was paler, with less distinct patterns. The summer coat had a similar density and hair length to that of the Bengal tiger, though its stripes were usually narrower, longer and closer set.
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Wikipedia