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

[peter]

PANTHERA TIGRIS AMOYENSIS - A

a - A few maps   

The time has arrived for a number of posts on Panthera tigris amoyensis, also known as the South China tiger. 

Before posting the papers and articles I found, I decided for a number of maps. China, after all, is a very large country. The maps will show you that quite many tigers belonging to Panthera tigris amoyensis were not shot in the southeastern part of China.   

a1 - Northeast

This map is from the seventies of the last century. The dotted black lines in red are borders. Russia is in the north and northeast (on top), Mongolia in the center and China is south of Mongolia. 

Shady black (see, for instance, the region east of Lake Baikal and southwest of Mongolia) is used to mark elevation and green is forest. There was quite a bit of it back then.

Only a century ago, Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) ranged from the extreme south of Korea right up to Lake Baikal.

The South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) ranged from Amoy to the region northeast of Beijing (Peking).   

Caspian tigers (Panthera tigris virgata), in that region also known as Baikal or Mongolian tigers, were often seen in the extreme northwest of China and, perhaps, Mongolia (left upper side of the map):

*This image is copyright of its original author

2 - Northwest

This map shows the northwestern part of China (and Mongolia). Caspian tigers (Panthera tigris virgata) ranged from the elevated regions in the extreme northwest to the grassy plains west and northwest of Lake Balchasj (west of Dzungaria). Tigers have also been shot in Lob Nor (just southeast of Dzungaria). The region north of the Tarim Basin (Tien Sjan) was know for its tigers.

South of that Basin is Tibet. In the days of Marco Polo (13th century), the southeast part of Tibet in particular had many tigers. They most probably came from central and northern parts of China, but Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) might have been present as well. I remember a documentary about tigers living in the very elevated region just east of Myanmar and Thailand. In those days (a few decades ago) they thought the tigers had come from the south, using river valleys.   

Just east and north of Assam, Indian tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) also used the valleys to move into China (to the north and east). More to the south (just east of Myanmar), Panthera tigris corbetti again featured.

On the other side of China, the extreme southeast was the home of the famous cave tigers, also known as Amoy tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis): 
 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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