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Panthera tigris ssp. virgata

Status_ne_offStatus_dd_offStatus_lc_offStatus_nt_offStatus_vu_offStatus_en_offStatus_cr_offStatus_ew_offStatus_ex_on

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA MAMMALIA CARNIVORA FELIDAE

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris ssp. virgata
Species Authority: (Illiger, 1815)
Common Name/s:
English – Caspian Tiger, Hyrcanian Tiger, Turan Tiger
Taxonomic Notes: Accepted as a subspecies by Mazak (1981), the Caspian Tiger is extinct, with the last records in the wild dating to the early 1970s and none in captivity (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Genetic analysis of museum skins indicate a close relationship with the Amur Tiger P. t. altaica, which could serve as stock for potential reintroduction (Driscoll et al. 2009).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Extinct ver 3.1
Year Published: 2011
Assessor/s: Jackson, P. & Nowell, K.
Reviewer/s: Nowell, K., Breitenmoser-Wursten, C., Breitenmoser, U. & Schipper, J.
Contributor/s:
Justification:
Caspian Tigers and their large ungulate prey were found in the sparse forest habitats and riverine corridors west (Turkey) and south (Iran) of the Caspian Sea and west through Central Asia into the Takla Makan desert of Xinjiang, China (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Abdukadir and Breitenmoser 2008). Its extinction can be attributed to hunting of both tigers and their prey, habitat loss and conversion, and increased vulnerability of small populations (Sunquist et al. 1999). The last Caspian Tiger was seen in the early 1970s, and there are none in captivity (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
History:
2003 – Extinct (IUCN 2003)
2003 – Extinct

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:
Regionally extinct:
China (Xinjiang)
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems: Terrestrial

Bibliography [top]

Abdukadir, A. and Breitenmoser, U. 2008. The last tigers of Xinjiang. Cat News 47: 26-27.

Driscoll, C.A., Yamaguchi, N., Kahila Bar-Gal, G., Roca, A.L., Luo, S.-J., Macdonald, D. and O’Brien, S.J. 2009. Mitochondrial phylogeography illuminates the origin of the extinct Caspian tiger and its relationship to the Amur tiger. Plos One 4: 1-8.

IUCN. 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2011.2). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 November 2011).

Mazak, V. 1981. Panthera tigris. Mammalian Species 152: 1.

Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. 1996. Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Sunquist, M. E., Karanth, K. U. and Sunquist, F. 1999. Ecology, behaviour and resilience of the tiger and its conservation needs. In: J. Seidensticker, S. Christie and P. Jackson (eds), Riding the Tiger: Tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes, pp. 5-18. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Citation: Jackson, P. & Nowell, K. 2011. Panthera tigris ssp. virgata. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 June 2013.
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