Post by Hatzegopteryx on May 2, 2014 16:33:23 GMT
Tiger - Panthera tigris
Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Synonyms
Felis tigris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tigris striatus (Severtzov, 1858)
Tigris regalis (Gray, 1867)
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest extant felid species, reaching a total body length of up to 3.38 m (11.1 ft) over curves and weighing up to 388.7 kg (857 lb) in the wild. Its most recognisable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard and jaguar. Like all felids, tigers are carnivorous, and primarily prey on ungulates like deer and bovids. They are territorial and generally solitary but social animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey requirements. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans.
Tigers once ranged widely across Asia, from Turkey in the west to the eastern coast of Russia. Over the past 100 years, they have lost 93% of their historic range, and have been extirpated from southwest and central Asia, from the islands of Java and Bali, and from large areas of Southeast and Eastern Asia. Today, they range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps. The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as endangered by IUCN. The global population in the wild is estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 individuals, down from around 100,000 at the start of the 20th century, with most remaining populations occurring in small pockets isolated from each other. Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching. The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1,184,911 km² (457,497 sq mi), a 41% decline from the area estimated in the mid-1990s.
Tiger's historic range in about 1850 (pale yellow) and in 2006 (in green)
Taxonomy
In 1758, Linnaeus first described the species in his work Systema Naturae under the scientific name Felis tigris. In 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris.
Evolution
The tiger's closest living relatives are the lion, leopard and jaguar, all of which are classified under the genus Panthera. The oldest remains of an extinct tiger relative, called Panthera zdanskyi or the Longdan tiger, have been found in the Gansu province of northwestern China. This species is considered to be a sister taxon to the extant tiger and lived about 2 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene. It was smaller than the modern tiger, being the size of a jaguar, and probably did not have the same coat pattern. Despite being considered more "primitive", the Longdan tiger was functionally and possibly ecologically similar to its modern cousin. As Panthera zdanskyi lived in northwestern China, that may have been where the tiger lineage originated. Tigers grew in size, possibly in response to adaptive radiations of prey species like deer and bovids which may have occurred in Southeast Asia during the early Pleistocene.
The earliest fossils of true tigers are from Java, and are between 1.6 and 1.8 million years old. Distinct fossils are known from the early and middle Pleistocene deposits in China and Sumatra. A subspecies called the Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) lived about 1.2 million years ago and is known from fossils found at Trinil in Java.
Tigers first reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern Beringia (but not the American Continent), Japan, and Sakhalin. Fossils found in Japan indicate the local tigers were, like the surviving island subspecies, smaller than the mainland forms, an example of insular dwarfism. Until the Holocene, tigers also lived in Borneo, as well as on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.
The tiger's full genome sequence was published in 2013. It and other cat genomes were found to have similar repeat composition and an appreciably conserved synteny.
Hybrids
Lions have been known to breed with tigers (most often the Amur and Bengal subspecies) to create hybrids called ligers and tigons. Such hybrids were once commonly bred in zoos, but this is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conservation. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.
The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress. Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but, even if they do, their manes will be only around half the size of that of a pure lion. Ligers are typically between 3 metres (10ft) and 3.65 metres (12ft) in length, and can weigh between 362kg (800lbs) and 453kg (1,000lbs) or more.
The less common tigon is a cross between a lioness and a male tiger. Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 150 kg (350lbs), which is about 10–20% smaller than lions. Like ligers, they have physical and behavioural traits from both parental species, and males are sterile. Females are sometimes fertile and have occasionally given birth to litigons when mated to a lion.
Description
Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful forelimbs, large heads and long tails. The pelage is dense and heavy; coloration varies between shades of orange and brown with white ventral areas and distinctive vertical black stripes, whose patterns are unique to each individual. Their function is likely for camouflage in vegetation such as long grass with strong vertical patterns of light and shade. The tiger is one of only a few striped felid species; it is not known why spots are the more common camouflage pattern among felids. The tiger's stripes are also found on the skin, so that if it were to be shaved, its distinctive coat pattern would still be visible. They have a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow irises. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black. These false "eyespots", called ocelli, apparently play an important role in intraspecies communication.
The skull is similar to that of the lion, though the frontal region is usually not as depressed or flattened, with a slightly longer postorbital region. The skull of a lion has broader nasal openings. However, due to variation in skulls of the two species, the structure of the lower jaw is a more reliable indicator of species. The tiger also has fairly stout teeth; the somewhat curved canines are the longest among living felids with a crown height of up to 90 mm (3.5 in).
The oldest recorded captive tiger lived for 26 years. It is assumed that a wild specimen, having no natural predators, could potentially live to a comparable age.
Size
Tigers are the most variable in size of all big cats, much more so than lions. The Bengal and Siberian subspecies are the tallest at the shoulder and thus considered the largest living felids, ranking with the extinct Caspian tiger among the biggest that ever existed. An average adult male tiger from Northern India or Siberia outweighs an average adult male lion by around 45.5 kg (100 lb). Males vary in total length from 250 to 390 cm (98 to 154 in) and weigh between 90 to 306 kg (198 to 675 lb) with skull length ranging from 316 to 383 mm (12.4 to 15.1 in). Females vary in total length from 200 to 275 cm (79 to 108 in), weigh 65 to 167 kg (143 to 368 lb) with skull length ranging from 268 to 318 mm (10.6 to 12.5 in). In either sex, the tail represents about 0.6 to 1.1 m (24 to 43 in) of total length.
Body size of different populations seems to be correlated with climate—Bergmann's rule—and can be explained by thermoregulation. Large male Siberian tigers can reach a total length of more than 3.5 m (11.5 ft) over curves and 3.3 m (10.8 ft) between pegs, and can weigh up to 306 kg (675 lb). This is considerably larger than the weight of 75 to 140 kg (165 to 309 lb) reached by the smallest living subspecies, the Sumatran tiger. At the shoulder, tigers may variously stand 0.7 to 1.22 m (2.3 to 4.0 ft) tall. The current record weight in the wild was 389 kg (858 lb) for a Bengal tiger shot in 1967.
They are a notably sexually dimorphic species, females being consistently smaller than males. The size difference between males and females is proportionally greater in the larger tiger subspecies, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than females. Males also have wider forepaw pads than females, enabling gender to be told from tracks.
Colour variations
A well-known allele found only in the Bengal subspecies produces the white tiger, a color variant first recorded in the early 19th century and found in an estimated one in 10,000 natural births. Genetically, whiteness is recessive: a cub is white only when both parents carry the allele for whiteness. It is not albinism, pigment being evident in the white tiger's stripes and in their blue eyes.[43] The causative mutation changes a single amino acid in the transporter protein SLC45A2.
White tigers are more frequently bred in captivity, where the comparatively small gene pool can lead to inbreeding. Attempts have been made to cross white and orange tigers to remedy this, often mixing subspecies in the process. Inbreeding has given white tigers a greater likelihood of being born with physical defects, such as cleft palate, scoliosis (curvature of the spine), and strabismus (squint). Even apparently healthy white tigers generally do not live as long as their orange counterparts.
Another recessive gene creates the "golden" or "golden tabby" colour variation, sometimes known as "strawberry". Golden tigers have thicker than usual light-gold fur, pale legs, and faint orange stripes. Few golden tigers are kept in captivity; they are invariably at least part Bengal. Some golden tigers carry the white tiger gene, and when two such tigers are mated, they can produce some stripeless white offspring. Although a "pseudo-melanistic" effect—wide stripes that partially obscure the orange background—has been seen in some pelts, no true black tigers have been authenticated, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846. These wholly or partially melanistic tigers, if they exist, are assumed to be intermittent mutations rather than a distinct species. There are further unconfirmed reports of a "blue" or slate-coloured variant, the Maltese tiger. However, while some felids do exhibit this colouration as a solid coat, there is no known genetic configuration that would result in black stripes on a blue-gray background.
Distribution
In the past, tigers were found throughout Asia, from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali and Sumatra. Fossil remains indicate tigers were also present in Borneo and Palawan in the Philippines during the late Pleistocene and Holocene.
During the 20th century, tigers became extinct in western Asia and were restricted to isolated pockets in the remaining parts of their range. They were extirpated on the island of Bali in the 1940s, around the Caspian Sea in the 1970s, and on Java in the 1980s. This was the result of habitat loss and the ongoing killing of tigers and tiger prey. Today, their fragmented and partly degraded range extends from India in the west to China and Southeast Asia. The northern limit of their range is close to the Amur River in southeastern Siberia. The only large island they still inhabit is Sumatra. Since the beginning of the 20th century, tigers' historical range has shrunk by 93%. In the decade from 1997 to 2007, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined by 41%.
Tigers can occupy a wide range of habitat types, but will usually require sufficient cover, proximity to water, and an abundance of prey. Compared to the lion, the tiger prefers denser vegetation, for which its camouflage colouring is ideally suited, and where a single predator is not at a disadvantage compared with the multiple felids in a pride. A further habitat requirement is the placement of suitably secluded den locations, which may consist of caves, large hollow trees, or dense vegetation. Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests, including wet, evergreen, and the semievergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the swampy mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats. In various parts of their range they inhabit or have inhabited additionally partially open grassland and savanna as well as taiga forests and rocky habitats.
Biology and behaviour
Adult tigers lead largely solitary lives. They establish and maintain home ranges. Resident adults of either sex generally confine their movements to a territory, within which they satisfy their needs and those of their growing cubs. Individuals sharing the same area are aware of each other's movements and activities. The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of males, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 km² (7.7 sq mi), while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60 to 100 km² (23 to 39 sq mi). The range of a male tends to overlap those of several females, providing him with a large field of prospective mating partners.
Unlike many felids, tigers are strong swimmers and often deliberately bathe in ponds, lakes and rivers as a means of keeping cool in the heat of the day. Among the big cats, only the jaguar shares a similar fondness for water. They may cross rivers up to 7 km (4.3 mi) across and can swim up to 29 km (18 mi) in a day. They are able to carry prey through or capture it in the water.
Young female tigers establish their first territories close to their mother's. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory reduces with time. Males, however, migrate further than their female counterparts and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male acquires territory either by seeking out an area devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Young males seeking to establish themselves thereby comprise the highest mortality rate (30–35% per year) amongst adult tigers.
Hunting and diet
In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized animals, preferring native ungulates weighing at least 90 kg (200 lb). They typically have little or no deleterious effect on their prey populations. Sambar deer, chital, barasingha, wild boar, gaur, nilgai and both water buffalo and domestic buffalo, in descending order of preference, are the tiger's favoured prey in India. They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, sloth bears, and crocodiles. In Siberia, the main prey species are manchurian wapiti and wild boar (the two species comprising nearly 80% of the prey selected) followed by sika deer, moose, roe deer, and musk deer. In addition, Asiatic black bears and brown bears make up 5–8% of the tiger's diet in the Russian Far East. In Sumatra, prey include sambar deer, muntjac, wild boar, and Malayan tapir. In the former Caspian tiger's range, prey included saiga antelope, camels, Caucasian wisent, yak, and wild horses. Like many predators, tigers are opportunistic and may eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines, and fish.
Conflicts between tigers and Asian elephants have been reported as far back as the nineteenth century; it was said that tigers were often able to overcome the larger animal. A tiger has also been observed killing an adult Indian rhinoceros, but as a rule tigers leave adult rhinoceroses alone. Young elephant and rhino calves are sometimes taken. When in close proximity to humans, tigers will also sometimes prey on such domestic livestock as cattle, horses, and donkeys. Old or wounded tigers, unable to catch wild prey, can become man-eaters; this pattern has recurred frequently across India. An exception is in the Sundarbans, where healthy tigers prey upon fishermen and villagers in search of forest produce, humans thereby forming a minor part of the tiger's diet. Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre. The fruit of the slow match tree is a favorite.
Tigers are thought to be mainly nocturnal predators, but in areas where humans are typically absent, they have been observed via remote-controlled, hidden cameras, hunting in daylight. They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth. Despite their large size, tigers can reach speeds of about 49–65 km/h (30–40 mph) but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover. If the prey catches wind of the tiger's presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than chase prey or battle it head-on. Horizontal leaps of up to 10 m (33 ft) have been reported, although leaps of around half this distance are more typical. One in 2 to 20 hunts, including stalking near potential prey, ends in a successful kill.
When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their powerful forelimbs to hold onto the prey, often simultaneously wrestling it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its target dies of strangulation. By this method, gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much. Although they can kill healthy adults, tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species. Healthy adult prey of this type can be dangerous to tackle, as long, strong horns, legs and tusks are all potentially fatal to the tiger. No other extant land predator routinely takes on prey this large on their own. Whilst hunting sambars, which comprise up to 60% of their prey in India, tigers have reportedly made a passable impersonation of the male sambar's rutting call to attract them. With smaller prey, such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery. Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle, and break the backs of sloth bears.
During the 1980s, a tiger named "Genghis" in Ranthambhore National Park was observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water, a pattern of behaviour that had not previously been witnessed in over 200 years of observations. Moreover, he appeared to be unusually successful, with 20% of hunts ending in a kill.
After killing their prey, tigers sometimes drag it to conceal it in vegetative cover, usually pulling it by grasping with their mouths at the site of the killing bite. This, too, can require great physical strength. In one case, after it had killed an adult gaur, a tiger was observed to drag the massive carcass over a distance of 12 m (39 ft). When 13 men simultaneously tried to drag the same carcass later, they were unable to move it. An adult tiger can go for up to two weeks without eating, then gorge on 34 kg (75 lb) of flesh at one time. In captivity, adult tigers are fed 3 to 6 kg (6.6 to 13.2 lb) of meat a day.
Tigers usually prefer to eat prey they have caught themselves, but are not above eating carrion in times of scarcity and may even pirate prey from other large carnivores. Although predators typically avoid one another, if a prey item is under dispute or a serious competitor is encountered, displays of aggression are common. If these are not sufficient, the conflicts may turn violent; tigers may kill competitors as leopards, dholes, striped hyenas, wolves, bears, pythons and even crocodiles on occasion. In some cases, rather than being strictly competitive, the attacks by tigers on other large carnivores seem to be predatory in nature. Situations where smaller predators, such as badgers, lynxes, and foxes are attacked, are almost certainly predatory. Crocodiles, bears and dholes may prevail against and even kill tigers. In particular, dholes may attack and kill a tiger if the pack is quite large.
The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey. In India's Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from 30 to 175 kg (66 to 386 lb) against a preference for prey weighing over 176 kg (388 lb) in the tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was 37.6 kg (83 lb) against 91.5 kg (202 lb). With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna (where the leopard may coexist with the lion). Lone golden jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with tigers. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will attach themselves to a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills.
Subspecies
Bengal Tiger - Panthera tigris tigris
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris tigris
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most numerous tiger subspecies. Its populations have been estimated at 1,706–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 163–253 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan. Since 2010, it has been classified as endangered by the IUCN. The total population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend, and none of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the Bengal tiger's range is large enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals.
Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the binomial Panthera tigris, to which the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the Bengal tiger in 1929 under the trinomial Panthera tigris tigris.
Distribution of the Bengal Tiger (in red)
Indochinese Tiger - Panthera tigris corbetti
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris corbetti
The Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) is a tiger subspecies dispersed throughout the Indochina region of Southeastern Asia. In 2007, its population comprised less than 2,500 individuals with no subpopulations greater than 250 individuals, so the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species categorized the Indochinese tiger as Endangered. Estimates range from 202 to 352 total individuals in the wild, so the Indochinese tiger approaches the threshold for Critically Endangered. There is restricted access to border areas where this subspecies lives, so there is very little accurate information regarding its population status.
The tigers in peninsular Malaysia, formerly classified as Indochinese, have recently been reclassified as a separate subspecies, the Malayan tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni.
Distribution of the Indochinese Tiger (in red)
Malayan Tiger - Panthera tigris jacksoni
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris jacksoni
The Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula and has been classified as endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population was estimated at 493 to 1,480 adult individuals in 2003; none of the three subpopulations likely harbors more than 250 mature breeding individuals, with a declining trend.
When in 1968 Panthera tigris corbetti was newly designated, the tigers inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula were included into this subspecies. In 2004, Panthera tigris jacksoni was recognized as a new subspecies when a genetic analysis found that they are distinct in mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences from Panthera tigris corbetti. There is no clear difference between the Malayan and the Indochinese tiger when specimens from the two regions are compared cranially or in pelage. No type specimen was designated.
Range map
Sumatran Tiger - Panthera tigris sumatrae
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris sumatrae
The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is a rare tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population was estimated at 441 to 679 individuals, with no subpopulation larger than 50 individuals and a declining trend.
The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving member of the Sunda Islands group of tigers that included the now extinct Bali tiger and Javan tiger. Sequences from complete mitochondrial genes of 34 tigers support the hypothesis that Sumatran tigers are diagnostically distinct from mainland populations.
Distribution map
Siberian Tiger - Panthera tigris altaica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris altaica
The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur tiger, is a tiger subspecies inhabiting mainly the Sikhote Alin mountain region with a small population in southwest Primorye province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Amur tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population had been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining.
Results of a phylogeographic study comparing mitochondrial DNA from Caspian tigers and living tiger subspecies indicate that the common ancestor of the Amur and Caspian subspecies colonized Central Asia from eastern China via the Gansu−Silk Road corridor from eastern China, and then subsequently traversed Siberia eastward to establish the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East.
Distribution of the Siberian tiger (in red)
South China Tiger - Panthera tigris amoyensis
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris amoyensis
The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is a tiger subspecies that was native to the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi in southern China, and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN since 1996 as it is possibly extinct in the wild. There is a small chance that some individuals are still extant. But already in the late 1990s, continued survival was considered unlikely due to low prey density, widespread habitat degradation and fragmentation, and other human pressures. No official or biologist has seen a wild South China tiger since the early 1970s, when the last verified record is of an individual brought into captivity.
Since the 1980s, the South China tiger is considered a relict population of the "stem" tiger, living close to the possible area of origin. Morphologically, it is the most distinctive of all tiger subspecies.
The name Amoy tiger was used in the fur trade. It is also known as the South Chinese, the Chinese, and the Xiamen tiger.
South China tiger range
†Caspian Tiger - Panthera tigris virgata
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris virgata
The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), also known as the Hyrcanian tiger, the Mazandaran tiger and the Turanian tiger, is an extinct tiger subspecies that had been recorded in the wild until the early 1970s, and used to inhabit 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. There are no individuals in captivity.
The Caspian tiger was formerly found in Chinese and Russian Turkestan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey.
The Caspian tiger together with the Siberian and Bengal tiger subspecies represented the largest living felid and ranked among the biggest felids that ever existed.
Original distribution (in dark grey)
†Bali Tiger - Panthera tigris balica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris balica
The Bali tiger (Panthera tigris balica), harimau Bali in Indonesian, or referred to as samong in archaic Balinese language, was a subspecies of tiger which was found solely on the small Indonesian island of Bali. This was one of three subspecies of tigers found in Indonesia, together with the Javan tiger, which is also extinct, and the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. It was the smallest of the tiger subspecies.
The last specimen definitely recorded was a female shot at Sumbar Kima, west Bali, on September 27, 1937. However, a few animals likely survived into the 1940s and possibly 1950s. The subspecies became extinct because of habitat loss and hunting. Given the small size of the island, and limited forest cover, the original population could never have been large.
Range map
†Javan Tiger - Panthera tigris sondaica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris sondaica
The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) is an extinct tiger subspecies that inhabited the Indonesian island of Java until the mid-1970s. It was one of the three subspecies limited to islands. Javan tigers were very small compared to other subspecies of the Asian mainland, but larger in size than Bali tigers. Males weighed between 100 and 140 kg (220 and 310 lb) on average with a body length of 200 to 245 cm (79 to 96 in). Females were smaller than males and weighed between 75 and 115 kg (165 and 254 lb) on average. They usually had long and thin stripes, which were slightly more numerous than of the Sumatran tiger. Their nose was long and narrow, occipital plane remarkably narrow and carnassials relatively long. Based on these cranial differences, the Javan tiger was proposed to be assigned to a distinct species, Panthera sondaica. Classically it is considered to be a subspecies of tiger Panthera tigris.
Former range of the Javan tiger
†Trinil Tiger - Panthera tigris trinilensis
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris trinilensis
The Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) is an extinct tiger subspecies dating from about 1.2 million years ago that was found at the locality of Trinil, Java, Indonesia. The fossil remains are now stored in the Dubois Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, the Netherlands. Although these fossils have been found on Java, the Trinil tiger is probably not a direct ancestor of the Javan tiger. The Trinil tiger probably became extinct fifty thousand years ago. The Bali tiger was also not closely related to the Trinil because of their time differences.
Bibliography
Links
Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Synonyms
Felis tigris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tigris striatus (Severtzov, 1858)
Tigris regalis (Gray, 1867)
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest extant felid species, reaching a total body length of up to 3.38 m (11.1 ft) over curves and weighing up to 388.7 kg (857 lb) in the wild. Its most recognisable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard and jaguar. Like all felids, tigers are carnivorous, and primarily prey on ungulates like deer and bovids. They are territorial and generally solitary but social animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey requirements. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans.
Tigers once ranged widely across Asia, from Turkey in the west to the eastern coast of Russia. Over the past 100 years, they have lost 93% of their historic range, and have been extirpated from southwest and central Asia, from the islands of Java and Bali, and from large areas of Southeast and Eastern Asia. Today, they range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps. The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as endangered by IUCN. The global population in the wild is estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 individuals, down from around 100,000 at the start of the 20th century, with most remaining populations occurring in small pockets isolated from each other. Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching. The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1,184,911 km² (457,497 sq mi), a 41% decline from the area estimated in the mid-1990s.
Tiger's historic range in about 1850 (pale yellow) and in 2006 (in green)
Taxonomy
In 1758, Linnaeus first described the species in his work Systema Naturae under the scientific name Felis tigris. In 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris.
Evolution
The tiger's closest living relatives are the lion, leopard and jaguar, all of which are classified under the genus Panthera. The oldest remains of an extinct tiger relative, called Panthera zdanskyi or the Longdan tiger, have been found in the Gansu province of northwestern China. This species is considered to be a sister taxon to the extant tiger and lived about 2 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene. It was smaller than the modern tiger, being the size of a jaguar, and probably did not have the same coat pattern. Despite being considered more "primitive", the Longdan tiger was functionally and possibly ecologically similar to its modern cousin. As Panthera zdanskyi lived in northwestern China, that may have been where the tiger lineage originated. Tigers grew in size, possibly in response to adaptive radiations of prey species like deer and bovids which may have occurred in Southeast Asia during the early Pleistocene.
The earliest fossils of true tigers are from Java, and are between 1.6 and 1.8 million years old. Distinct fossils are known from the early and middle Pleistocene deposits in China and Sumatra. A subspecies called the Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) lived about 1.2 million years ago and is known from fossils found at Trinil in Java.
Tigers first reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern Beringia (but not the American Continent), Japan, and Sakhalin. Fossils found in Japan indicate the local tigers were, like the surviving island subspecies, smaller than the mainland forms, an example of insular dwarfism. Until the Holocene, tigers also lived in Borneo, as well as on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.
The tiger's full genome sequence was published in 2013. It and other cat genomes were found to have similar repeat composition and an appreciably conserved synteny.
Hybrids
Lions have been known to breed with tigers (most often the Amur and Bengal subspecies) to create hybrids called ligers and tigons. Such hybrids were once commonly bred in zoos, but this is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conservation. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.
The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress. Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but, even if they do, their manes will be only around half the size of that of a pure lion. Ligers are typically between 3 metres (10ft) and 3.65 metres (12ft) in length, and can weigh between 362kg (800lbs) and 453kg (1,000lbs) or more.
The less common tigon is a cross between a lioness and a male tiger. Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 150 kg (350lbs), which is about 10–20% smaller than lions. Like ligers, they have physical and behavioural traits from both parental species, and males are sterile. Females are sometimes fertile and have occasionally given birth to litigons when mated to a lion.
Description
Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful forelimbs, large heads and long tails. The pelage is dense and heavy; coloration varies between shades of orange and brown with white ventral areas and distinctive vertical black stripes, whose patterns are unique to each individual. Their function is likely for camouflage in vegetation such as long grass with strong vertical patterns of light and shade. The tiger is one of only a few striped felid species; it is not known why spots are the more common camouflage pattern among felids. The tiger's stripes are also found on the skin, so that if it were to be shaved, its distinctive coat pattern would still be visible. They have a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow irises. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black. These false "eyespots", called ocelli, apparently play an important role in intraspecies communication.
The skull is similar to that of the lion, though the frontal region is usually not as depressed or flattened, with a slightly longer postorbital region. The skull of a lion has broader nasal openings. However, due to variation in skulls of the two species, the structure of the lower jaw is a more reliable indicator of species. The tiger also has fairly stout teeth; the somewhat curved canines are the longest among living felids with a crown height of up to 90 mm (3.5 in).
The oldest recorded captive tiger lived for 26 years. It is assumed that a wild specimen, having no natural predators, could potentially live to a comparable age.
Size
Tigers are the most variable in size of all big cats, much more so than lions. The Bengal and Siberian subspecies are the tallest at the shoulder and thus considered the largest living felids, ranking with the extinct Caspian tiger among the biggest that ever existed. An average adult male tiger from Northern India or Siberia outweighs an average adult male lion by around 45.5 kg (100 lb). Males vary in total length from 250 to 390 cm (98 to 154 in) and weigh between 90 to 306 kg (198 to 675 lb) with skull length ranging from 316 to 383 mm (12.4 to 15.1 in). Females vary in total length from 200 to 275 cm (79 to 108 in), weigh 65 to 167 kg (143 to 368 lb) with skull length ranging from 268 to 318 mm (10.6 to 12.5 in). In either sex, the tail represents about 0.6 to 1.1 m (24 to 43 in) of total length.
Body size of different populations seems to be correlated with climate—Bergmann's rule—and can be explained by thermoregulation. Large male Siberian tigers can reach a total length of more than 3.5 m (11.5 ft) over curves and 3.3 m (10.8 ft) between pegs, and can weigh up to 306 kg (675 lb). This is considerably larger than the weight of 75 to 140 kg (165 to 309 lb) reached by the smallest living subspecies, the Sumatran tiger. At the shoulder, tigers may variously stand 0.7 to 1.22 m (2.3 to 4.0 ft) tall. The current record weight in the wild was 389 kg (858 lb) for a Bengal tiger shot in 1967.
They are a notably sexually dimorphic species, females being consistently smaller than males. The size difference between males and females is proportionally greater in the larger tiger subspecies, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than females. Males also have wider forepaw pads than females, enabling gender to be told from tracks.
Colour variations
A well-known allele found only in the Bengal subspecies produces the white tiger, a color variant first recorded in the early 19th century and found in an estimated one in 10,000 natural births. Genetically, whiteness is recessive: a cub is white only when both parents carry the allele for whiteness. It is not albinism, pigment being evident in the white tiger's stripes and in their blue eyes.[43] The causative mutation changes a single amino acid in the transporter protein SLC45A2.
White tigers are more frequently bred in captivity, where the comparatively small gene pool can lead to inbreeding. Attempts have been made to cross white and orange tigers to remedy this, often mixing subspecies in the process. Inbreeding has given white tigers a greater likelihood of being born with physical defects, such as cleft palate, scoliosis (curvature of the spine), and strabismus (squint). Even apparently healthy white tigers generally do not live as long as their orange counterparts.
Another recessive gene creates the "golden" or "golden tabby" colour variation, sometimes known as "strawberry". Golden tigers have thicker than usual light-gold fur, pale legs, and faint orange stripes. Few golden tigers are kept in captivity; they are invariably at least part Bengal. Some golden tigers carry the white tiger gene, and when two such tigers are mated, they can produce some stripeless white offspring. Although a "pseudo-melanistic" effect—wide stripes that partially obscure the orange background—has been seen in some pelts, no true black tigers have been authenticated, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846. These wholly or partially melanistic tigers, if they exist, are assumed to be intermittent mutations rather than a distinct species. There are further unconfirmed reports of a "blue" or slate-coloured variant, the Maltese tiger. However, while some felids do exhibit this colouration as a solid coat, there is no known genetic configuration that would result in black stripes on a blue-gray background.
Distribution
In the past, tigers were found throughout Asia, from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali and Sumatra. Fossil remains indicate tigers were also present in Borneo and Palawan in the Philippines during the late Pleistocene and Holocene.
During the 20th century, tigers became extinct in western Asia and were restricted to isolated pockets in the remaining parts of their range. They were extirpated on the island of Bali in the 1940s, around the Caspian Sea in the 1970s, and on Java in the 1980s. This was the result of habitat loss and the ongoing killing of tigers and tiger prey. Today, their fragmented and partly degraded range extends from India in the west to China and Southeast Asia. The northern limit of their range is close to the Amur River in southeastern Siberia. The only large island they still inhabit is Sumatra. Since the beginning of the 20th century, tigers' historical range has shrunk by 93%. In the decade from 1997 to 2007, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined by 41%.
Tigers can occupy a wide range of habitat types, but will usually require sufficient cover, proximity to water, and an abundance of prey. Compared to the lion, the tiger prefers denser vegetation, for which its camouflage colouring is ideally suited, and where a single predator is not at a disadvantage compared with the multiple felids in a pride. A further habitat requirement is the placement of suitably secluded den locations, which may consist of caves, large hollow trees, or dense vegetation. Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests, including wet, evergreen, and the semievergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the swampy mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats. In various parts of their range they inhabit or have inhabited additionally partially open grassland and savanna as well as taiga forests and rocky habitats.
Biology and behaviour
Adult tigers lead largely solitary lives. They establish and maintain home ranges. Resident adults of either sex generally confine their movements to a territory, within which they satisfy their needs and those of their growing cubs. Individuals sharing the same area are aware of each other's movements and activities. The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of males, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 km² (7.7 sq mi), while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60 to 100 km² (23 to 39 sq mi). The range of a male tends to overlap those of several females, providing him with a large field of prospective mating partners.
Unlike many felids, tigers are strong swimmers and often deliberately bathe in ponds, lakes and rivers as a means of keeping cool in the heat of the day. Among the big cats, only the jaguar shares a similar fondness for water. They may cross rivers up to 7 km (4.3 mi) across and can swim up to 29 km (18 mi) in a day. They are able to carry prey through or capture it in the water.
Young female tigers establish their first territories close to their mother's. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory reduces with time. Males, however, migrate further than their female counterparts and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male acquires territory either by seeking out an area devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Young males seeking to establish themselves thereby comprise the highest mortality rate (30–35% per year) amongst adult tigers.
Hunting and diet
In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized animals, preferring native ungulates weighing at least 90 kg (200 lb). They typically have little or no deleterious effect on their prey populations. Sambar deer, chital, barasingha, wild boar, gaur, nilgai and both water buffalo and domestic buffalo, in descending order of preference, are the tiger's favoured prey in India. They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, sloth bears, and crocodiles. In Siberia, the main prey species are manchurian wapiti and wild boar (the two species comprising nearly 80% of the prey selected) followed by sika deer, moose, roe deer, and musk deer. In addition, Asiatic black bears and brown bears make up 5–8% of the tiger's diet in the Russian Far East. In Sumatra, prey include sambar deer, muntjac, wild boar, and Malayan tapir. In the former Caspian tiger's range, prey included saiga antelope, camels, Caucasian wisent, yak, and wild horses. Like many predators, tigers are opportunistic and may eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines, and fish.
Conflicts between tigers and Asian elephants have been reported as far back as the nineteenth century; it was said that tigers were often able to overcome the larger animal. A tiger has also been observed killing an adult Indian rhinoceros, but as a rule tigers leave adult rhinoceroses alone. Young elephant and rhino calves are sometimes taken. When in close proximity to humans, tigers will also sometimes prey on such domestic livestock as cattle, horses, and donkeys. Old or wounded tigers, unable to catch wild prey, can become man-eaters; this pattern has recurred frequently across India. An exception is in the Sundarbans, where healthy tigers prey upon fishermen and villagers in search of forest produce, humans thereby forming a minor part of the tiger's diet. Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre. The fruit of the slow match tree is a favorite.
Tigers are thought to be mainly nocturnal predators, but in areas where humans are typically absent, they have been observed via remote-controlled, hidden cameras, hunting in daylight. They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth. Despite their large size, tigers can reach speeds of about 49–65 km/h (30–40 mph) but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover. If the prey catches wind of the tiger's presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than chase prey or battle it head-on. Horizontal leaps of up to 10 m (33 ft) have been reported, although leaps of around half this distance are more typical. One in 2 to 20 hunts, including stalking near potential prey, ends in a successful kill.
When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their powerful forelimbs to hold onto the prey, often simultaneously wrestling it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its target dies of strangulation. By this method, gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much. Although they can kill healthy adults, tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species. Healthy adult prey of this type can be dangerous to tackle, as long, strong horns, legs and tusks are all potentially fatal to the tiger. No other extant land predator routinely takes on prey this large on their own. Whilst hunting sambars, which comprise up to 60% of their prey in India, tigers have reportedly made a passable impersonation of the male sambar's rutting call to attract them. With smaller prey, such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery. Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle, and break the backs of sloth bears.
During the 1980s, a tiger named "Genghis" in Ranthambhore National Park was observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water, a pattern of behaviour that had not previously been witnessed in over 200 years of observations. Moreover, he appeared to be unusually successful, with 20% of hunts ending in a kill.
After killing their prey, tigers sometimes drag it to conceal it in vegetative cover, usually pulling it by grasping with their mouths at the site of the killing bite. This, too, can require great physical strength. In one case, after it had killed an adult gaur, a tiger was observed to drag the massive carcass over a distance of 12 m (39 ft). When 13 men simultaneously tried to drag the same carcass later, they were unable to move it. An adult tiger can go for up to two weeks without eating, then gorge on 34 kg (75 lb) of flesh at one time. In captivity, adult tigers are fed 3 to 6 kg (6.6 to 13.2 lb) of meat a day.
Tigers usually prefer to eat prey they have caught themselves, but are not above eating carrion in times of scarcity and may even pirate prey from other large carnivores. Although predators typically avoid one another, if a prey item is under dispute or a serious competitor is encountered, displays of aggression are common. If these are not sufficient, the conflicts may turn violent; tigers may kill competitors as leopards, dholes, striped hyenas, wolves, bears, pythons and even crocodiles on occasion. In some cases, rather than being strictly competitive, the attacks by tigers on other large carnivores seem to be predatory in nature. Situations where smaller predators, such as badgers, lynxes, and foxes are attacked, are almost certainly predatory. Crocodiles, bears and dholes may prevail against and even kill tigers. In particular, dholes may attack and kill a tiger if the pack is quite large.
The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey. In India's Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from 30 to 175 kg (66 to 386 lb) against a preference for prey weighing over 176 kg (388 lb) in the tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was 37.6 kg (83 lb) against 91.5 kg (202 lb). With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna (where the leopard may coexist with the lion). Lone golden jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with tigers. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will attach themselves to a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills.
Subspecies
Bengal Tiger - Panthera tigris tigris
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris tigris
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most numerous tiger subspecies. Its populations have been estimated at 1,706–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 163–253 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan. Since 2010, it has been classified as endangered by the IUCN. The total population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend, and none of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the Bengal tiger's range is large enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals.
Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the binomial Panthera tigris, to which the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the Bengal tiger in 1929 under the trinomial Panthera tigris tigris.
Distribution of the Bengal Tiger (in red)
Indochinese Tiger - Panthera tigris corbetti
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris corbetti
The Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) is a tiger subspecies dispersed throughout the Indochina region of Southeastern Asia. In 2007, its population comprised less than 2,500 individuals with no subpopulations greater than 250 individuals, so the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species categorized the Indochinese tiger as Endangered. Estimates range from 202 to 352 total individuals in the wild, so the Indochinese tiger approaches the threshold for Critically Endangered. There is restricted access to border areas where this subspecies lives, so there is very little accurate information regarding its population status.
The tigers in peninsular Malaysia, formerly classified as Indochinese, have recently been reclassified as a separate subspecies, the Malayan tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni.
Distribution of the Indochinese Tiger (in red)
Malayan Tiger - Panthera tigris jacksoni
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris jacksoni
The Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula and has been classified as endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population was estimated at 493 to 1,480 adult individuals in 2003; none of the three subpopulations likely harbors more than 250 mature breeding individuals, with a declining trend.
When in 1968 Panthera tigris corbetti was newly designated, the tigers inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula were included into this subspecies. In 2004, Panthera tigris jacksoni was recognized as a new subspecies when a genetic analysis found that they are distinct in mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences from Panthera tigris corbetti. There is no clear difference between the Malayan and the Indochinese tiger when specimens from the two regions are compared cranially or in pelage. No type specimen was designated.
Range map
Sumatran Tiger - Panthera tigris sumatrae
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris sumatrae
The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is a rare tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population was estimated at 441 to 679 individuals, with no subpopulation larger than 50 individuals and a declining trend.
The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving member of the Sunda Islands group of tigers that included the now extinct Bali tiger and Javan tiger. Sequences from complete mitochondrial genes of 34 tigers support the hypothesis that Sumatran tigers are diagnostically distinct from mainland populations.
Distribution map
Siberian Tiger - Panthera tigris altaica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris altaica
The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur tiger, is a tiger subspecies inhabiting mainly the Sikhote Alin mountain region with a small population in southwest Primorye province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Amur tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population had been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining.
Results of a phylogeographic study comparing mitochondrial DNA from Caspian tigers and living tiger subspecies indicate that the common ancestor of the Amur and Caspian subspecies colonized Central Asia from eastern China via the Gansu−Silk Road corridor from eastern China, and then subsequently traversed Siberia eastward to establish the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East.
Distribution of the Siberian tiger (in red)
South China Tiger - Panthera tigris amoyensis
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris amoyensis
The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is a tiger subspecies that was native to the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi in southern China, and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN since 1996 as it is possibly extinct in the wild. There is a small chance that some individuals are still extant. But already in the late 1990s, continued survival was considered unlikely due to low prey density, widespread habitat degradation and fragmentation, and other human pressures. No official or biologist has seen a wild South China tiger since the early 1970s, when the last verified record is of an individual brought into captivity.
Since the 1980s, the South China tiger is considered a relict population of the "stem" tiger, living close to the possible area of origin. Morphologically, it is the most distinctive of all tiger subspecies.
The name Amoy tiger was used in the fur trade. It is also known as the South Chinese, the Chinese, and the Xiamen tiger.
South China tiger range
†Caspian Tiger - Panthera tigris virgata
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris virgata
The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), also known as the Hyrcanian tiger, the Mazandaran tiger and the Turanian tiger, is an extinct tiger subspecies that had been recorded in the wild until the early 1970s, and used to inhabit 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. There are no individuals in captivity.
The Caspian tiger was formerly found in Chinese and Russian Turkestan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey.
The Caspian tiger together with the Siberian and Bengal tiger subspecies represented the largest living felid and ranked among the biggest felids that ever existed.
Original distribution (in dark grey)
†Bali Tiger - Panthera tigris balica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris balica
The Bali tiger (Panthera tigris balica), harimau Bali in Indonesian, or referred to as samong in archaic Balinese language, was a subspecies of tiger which was found solely on the small Indonesian island of Bali. This was one of three subspecies of tigers found in Indonesia, together with the Javan tiger, which is also extinct, and the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. It was the smallest of the tiger subspecies.
The last specimen definitely recorded was a female shot at Sumbar Kima, west Bali, on September 27, 1937. However, a few animals likely survived into the 1940s and possibly 1950s. The subspecies became extinct because of habitat loss and hunting. Given the small size of the island, and limited forest cover, the original population could never have been large.
Range map
†Javan Tiger - Panthera tigris sondaica
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris sondaica
The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) is an extinct tiger subspecies that inhabited the Indonesian island of Java until the mid-1970s. It was one of the three subspecies limited to islands. Javan tigers were very small compared to other subspecies of the Asian mainland, but larger in size than Bali tigers. Males weighed between 100 and 140 kg (220 and 310 lb) on average with a body length of 200 to 245 cm (79 to 96 in). Females were smaller than males and weighed between 75 and 115 kg (165 and 254 lb) on average. They usually had long and thin stripes, which were slightly more numerous than of the Sumatran tiger. Their nose was long and narrow, occipital plane remarkably narrow and carnassials relatively long. Based on these cranial differences, the Javan tiger was proposed to be assigned to a distinct species, Panthera sondaica. Classically it is considered to be a subspecies of tiger Panthera tigris.
Former range of the Javan tiger
†Trinil Tiger - Panthera tigris trinilensis
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(Unranked): Opisthokonta
(Unranked): Holozoa
(Unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Clade: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Clade: Teleostomi
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Mammaliaformes
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Holotheria
Superlegion: Trechnotheria
Legion: Cladotheria
Sublegion: Zatheria
Infralegion: Tribosphenida
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Magnorder: Boreoeutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
(unranked): Zooamata
(unranked): Ferae
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Subspecies: Panthera tigris trinilensis
The Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) is an extinct tiger subspecies dating from about 1.2 million years ago that was found at the locality of Trinil, Java, Indonesia. The fossil remains are now stored in the Dubois Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, the Netherlands. Although these fossils have been found on Java, the Trinil tiger is probably not a direct ancestor of the Javan tiger. The Trinil tiger probably became extinct fifty thousand years ago. The Bali tiger was also not closely related to the Trinil because of their time differences.
Bibliography
Links