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

[GuateGojira]

(04-02-2022, 07:54 PM)GreenGrolar Wrote: here is another interesting account:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...dents.html

Out of topic, but in the line with tigers. It is stated that the maximum distance known to be travelled by a tiger is 1,000 km (Nowell & Jackson, 1993). With this in mind and with this type of records of huge travels from Russia and India, is used to prove that there is no natural barriers in Asia (appart from deserts or high mountains) that can stop a tiger for moving from one part to another one, not even the large rivers. Knowing this, there is no reason why a young male Amur tiger could not travel to South China and mate with the females there, or a Bengal tiger traveling to the Myanmar and make its home there. Based in this, and the fact that the differences between "subspecies" are based in very few specimens, that is why modern scientists believe that there are not "subspecies" per se, but just populations with clinal variations or particular adaptations. The genetic evidence will only suggest modern separations caused by humans, and will support the idea that the modern "subspecies" are just artificial populations created by the intervention of humans.

I think that the subspecies issue is a very interesting theme, with real discussions in the academic groups between the "spliters" and the "lumpers". I will like to go deeper in these topic too, and this shows how interesting is to study tigers without the need to constantly put it in irracional conflicts with other animals (like lions, for example). Reply