The Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata)

[Caggis]

(09-16-2023, 03:17 PM)peter Wrote:

(09-15-2023, 10:44 PM)Caggis Wrote: Hi everyone, I have come across some tiger paintings by Hungarian artists Geza Vastagh in which the subjects seem to show the typical traits of the caspian subspecies.  Specifically the markings of the tiger in "tiger in a landscape" are very similar to the ones of the berlin zoo specimen often seen in photos.  Does anyone have any further information on these paintings?

Very nice paintings indeed. Based on the photographs I saw and the descriptions I read, the tiger could be close to what a wild Caspian tiger might have looked like. Adult males not seldom had a reddfish-brown shaggy coat, quite wide brown-black stripes, longish belly hairs, a kind of mane and a shortish skull with a clear 'stop'. 

Individual variation in this respect, however, was pronounced. I've plenty of photographs showing tigers with long, black and quite narrow stripes. In this respect, Caspian tigers compared to wild Amur tigers today. 

Before they were hunted to extinction, Caspian tigers were seen in very different habitats. The Caspian region has rugged, and quite elevated mountaineous regions, alpine forests and deep canyons with reed beds and river forests, but the northeastern part is quite flat and has extended grassy plains. Artists often depicted Caspian tigers in these plains. That's still without the tigers shot in the region between the Caspian and the Altai Mountains and Mongolia. 

Sizewise, adult male Caspian tigers might have compared to Indochinese male tigers, but sexual dimorphism seemed to have been more pronounced. Same for individual variation. The heaviest wild tigress I know of was 135 kg, but those who saw them in zoos and facilities agree most were smaller. Skulls measurements, although few, seem to confirm their opinion. The largest males were shot in Mazanderan (northern Iran) and, in particular, the southwestern part of the Caspian region. If anything, exceptional males were very long. 

Here's a few pictures to finish the post. The first two drawings are from Arthur Wardle:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Mongolia or western China. Artist unknown:

*This image is copyright of its original author

This drawing was posted by 'Kaspi Tiger' on a German forum quite some years ago. He had a lot of good information about wild and captive Caspian tigers:

*This image is copyright of its original author

According to Heptner and Sludskij ('Die Saugetiere der Sowjet-Union') and Mazak ('Der Tiger'), Caspian tigers were often seen, and shot, in the Altai Mountains in the recent past (about two centuries ago). Photograph A. Kudrin:  

*This image is copyright of its original author

Thank you for this information! What i also found interesting in the paintings i posted is the setting which seems to show a central asian riparian forest.  Do you think this kind of environment with tall reeds is typical of places such as the Ili delta?
The paintings you posted are by french painter Jean Leon Gerome.  He is known to have traveled to the middle east so the "tiger on the watch" painting could show a scene somewhere in Anatolia perhaps.  He was an orientalist and tended to romanticise his subjects so perhaps absolute accuracy was not his priority. Reply