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.
07-05-2015, 11:10 AM( This post was last modified: 07-05-2015, 11:12 AM by GuateGojira )
Genetic and morphological studies suggest that the South China tigers is basal to modern tigers, and thus, is the less related with the Amur and the Bengal tigers, which are the most modern ones.
From my point of view, this tiger population is the most related with the Wanhsien tiger. The genetic studies put it even been basal to the Sunda tigers, which separated from the mainland population until about 12,000 years ago, with the end of the last ice age. Kitchener & Dugmore (1999) sugest that at about 20,000 years, mainland and Sunda tigers were still interconnected, so the genetic and morphology of the South China tiger is the base of modern tigers, and something in its skull suggest that as its looks like a mix of mainland and Sunda tigers, although not at the level of the Sumatran tigers, which are more related with the island tigers.
Sadly, modern captive population is not very representative of this old lineage, but in order to save it, the best candidate for intermix would be the Indochinese tiger, from which the captive population share already DNA marks.