There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
11-19-2017, 10:40 AM( This post was last modified: 11-19-2017, 11:33 AM by GrizzlyClaws )
Caspian tiger: The genetically confirmed progenitor of the Amur tiger.
Wanhsien tiger: Could have a played a significant role in the gene pool of the Amur tiger. It is the possible that the leftover population of the Wanhsien tiger could have been absorbed by the late arrival Caspian tiger. Even it is possible that we won't find any trace of the Wanhsien tiger in the Y-DNA and mtDNA of the modern Amur tiger, but it is still possible that their autosome is still there and played a significant role for Amur tiger's appearance alteration from its Caspian ancestor.
Bengal tiger: Its expansion was quite late, most likely some northern population of the Bengal tigers being genetically affected by the Caspian tiger from Central Asia, not the other way around.
Cave lion: It is nearly impossible for a lion and tiger to interbreed in the wild. So I doubt some morphological resemblance to tiger was the result of interspecies hybridization.
BTW, Panthera spelaea looked morphologically quite different from Panthera fossilis, so it was possible that they were not necessarily the pure descendant of Panthera fossilis, could have been hybridization with other unknown ancient lion population. And Panthera atrox on the other hand did look like a pure descendant of Panthera fossilis.