ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[GuateGojira]

(04-18-2014, 03:46 AM)'peter' Wrote: Thanks for the addition, Guate. The part on Japan was interesting in particular. Maybe you could tell us a bit more about Panthera palaeosinensis and other frontrunners of Panthera tigris?

I decided to add a bit more on tiger evolution. The pages below are scans of a thesis of K. Lovely (Harvard, 2009). Not up to date anymore as a result of recent publications, but interesting nevertheless. A large part is directed at captive big cats and breeding programs in the USA, but the introduction on evolution (of both lions and tigers) isn't bad.   


02 - EVOLUTION (continuation)

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The ideas regarding a common ancestor and a cline were confirmed a bit later, but Pocock's 'working hypothesis' regarding (eight) tiger subspecies in his 1929-paper has been rejected (see post 06). The idea on Panthera tigris corbetti (northern parts of Indochina) and Panthera tigris jacksioni (southern part of Indo-China) hasn't been accepted.  

Maybe Guate is able to get to a one-page graphic with a timeline, climatic conditions and the most recent insights regarding tiger evolution and subspecies?

 

 

I have the full document about the study of Panthera palaeosinensis. I will try to put it page by page, but if you want, I can post only the important pages. The point is that J. Mazák found that this was not a tiger, but a different species closer to the lions and leopards. Interestingly, other great cat in the same area, which is Panthera youngi, have similar affinities, just that in its case, it is closer to the lions and tigers. It seems that there were more than one big cat in the East Asia Pleistocene, but at the end, only the tiger (Panthera tigris) with its larger size and great adaptability survived, even over the large saber-tooth cats like Homotherium sp., that lived in the area at the same time.

About the graphic, I will do it, but I will not include climate conditions, at least not in a deep form, because there is not much information on the subject. What it surely include will be the timeline, the evolution and all the subspecies, with images of the bones, when I have it. I will include also personal draws and if its posible, some basic morphological parameters. 02 - EVOLUTION 

BORNEO 

[img]http://i.imgur.com/PjocStN.jpg" class="lozad max-img-size" alt="" title="">

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

 

  This is fascinating and taking in count that there is no doubt that tigers know how to live even in dry habitats (like the Caspian region and Rajastan in India), there is practically no problem to say that tigers DO existed in Borneo. Sadly, there is no mention of the fossils itselves, but in the case of those of Palawan, we can see that the metapodials are about the same size than those from a female Bengal tigress, which means that the particular specimens found in Palawan were of that size. Obviously there is no more fossils, so we can't say if there were larger and/or smaller specimens, or even if those bones were from males or females, nor even if they were fully grow or just cubs.

About the Borneo tigers, the reports say that it was of the size of a Sumatran specimen, but with a brownish coat and faint stripes.
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