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

[BorneanTiger]

Aside from the fact that the Amur and Caspian tigers used to be one population, hence their close relationship (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl...ne.0004125), did anyone notice how close the ranges of the Caspian and Bengal tigers were, and that the former was in South Asia like the latter?

Mazák's map of ranges of tigers: https://web.archive.org/web/201203091255...1-0001.pdf
   

Afghanistan is regarded as a South Asian country, like Pakistan, where the Bengal tiger used to be recorded, and India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, where the Bengal tiger currently is: http://www.saarc-sec.org 

• Afghanistan
  
  
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• Bangladesh
  
  
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• Bhutan
  
  
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• India
  
  
  *This image is copyright of its original author
• Maldives
  
  
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• Nepal
  
  
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• Pakistan
  
  
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• Sri Lanka
  
  
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You're all probably familiar with the Mughal Empire, which used to rule much of the region, including parts of what are now Afghanistan and India: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mughal-dynasty

*This image is copyright of its original author

From this, we can see that Mughals must have come across both Bengal and Caspian tigers, or their ancestors, depending on whether or not they could have been treated as different populations at that time.

Mughal painting of 'Ala'ud-Din (a better way of writing 'Aladdin') and Mahima Dharma hunting a tiger, circa 1790 in the Punjab (present-day India and Pakistan): http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecat...ot.13.html

*This image is copyright of its original author

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