The Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata)

[peter]

(04-27-2024, 05:02 PM)lfelipe86 Wrote:

(04-26-2024, 05:06 AM)peter Wrote:

(04-26-2024, 02:31 AM)lfelipe86 Wrote: The Caspian tiger killed in the Kopet Dag region of Turmenistan near the Sumbar river is 70 years old!!! He is at a museum in Turkmenistan to this day!!! He is one of the largest caspian tigers known along with one killed in Azerbaijan in 1899!!!


https://central-asia.news/turkmeniya/obs...sia-70-let


Below a colored photograph of the Caspian tiger killed in Çukurca Turkey in 1970!!!

Very interesting article, Felipe. It confirms the information in 'Säugetiere der Sowjetunion' of Heptner and Sludskij, German translation (1980). They wrote Turan tigers, although somewhat smaller than the Amur tiger, could reach a large size at times. Many thanks!

Thanks! It is also interesting that the article mentions a 1989 sighting at lake balkhash!!! I´ve read about a mid 2000´s sighting by a russian fisherman that saw a tigress with cubs in the same area! It appears that lake balkhash along with Golestan and Gilan regions, East Turkey, northern afghanistan and Romit region in Tadjikstan are possible places of caspian tiger survival!! The pathern of sightings in those regions are very consistent! The same thing that happened with the javan tiger and they foun hair and DNA! It makes the survival of caspian tigers very possible!

The more I read (referring to articles) and hear (referring to stories from eastern Turkey), Felipe, the more I think authorities in some regions and countries are not that keen on possible survivors of the unslaught that took place in the period 1950-1980. Today, tigers are protected animals, meaning authorities are more or less obliged to protect them. Protecting an apex predator, however, means the entire ecosystem needs to be protected. This means the region can't be 'developed'. 

Indonesia (referring to both Java and Sumatra) isn't the only region where tigers are not welcome. In 2011, a well-known Chinese tiger biologist visited a region in central China where rumours about the presence of a big cat were quite persistent. His, very interesting, findings were discussed in the tiger extinction thread. After that publication, I expected a follow-up. Most unfortunately, silence once again took over. The district in which evidence of the presence of a large cat was found was located quite close to a large city. Tigers are monitored and studied in northeastern China, but in more developed districts in central parts of China it could (referring to tolerance) be a different story. 

As to the Caspian region. After, say, 1970, there have been quite a few reports about the possible existence of big cats in remote and wild districts. That and persistent rumours about sightings. The problem in that part of central Asia was, and is, the political situation. After the former Sowjetunion imploded, many more or less autonomous regions were faced with a completely new situation. Not seldom, a struggle for power erupted. At times, the result was chaos. Not a situation in which conservation would have been a political priority, one would think. 

Apart from all that, there's the tiger. In spite of it's large size, there's no question it has the uncanny ability to disappear from sight completely. When a population, after decades of hunting and poisoning, has been decimated, if not nearly completely destroyed, some survivors apparently are able to pick up the message and to act in a very adequate way. They become less vocal, move to remote districts and also seem to be able to effectively hide kills from sight. Prints are seldom left, confrontations are avoided and when the heat is turned on they're apparently able to get to the right conclusion and move out of sight once again. In this way, detection can be avoided for a prolonged period of time. In spite of their elusiveness, survivors apparently are able to find each other every now and then and breed.  

Every, solitary, wild cat is elusive, but the tiger is a big animal that needs a large territory, a lot of cover, water and at least 20 large prey animals a year to survive. In a district of plenty where they're not hunted, it's easy to find, and hunt them, but when the tide changes tigers are able to adapt. In the days of Dersu, when they were on their way out in Manchuria and the southern part of the Russian Far East, tigers were seldom seen and difficult to hunt. The stories of Corbett and Anderson suggest man-eaters could be hunted in the days of the British Raj by those who knew about tigers and had the time to go after them, but this is not the complete story. Not seldom, tigers not seldom were able to turn the tables. There's no question most man-eaters died of old age. 

It can't be excluded some people (referring to the situation today) keep silent about the presence of tigers in countries where they were allegedly 'exterminated' in order to avoid unwelcome attention. Even in National Parks and Zapovedniks (referring to the Russian Far East), biologists seem to have become more wary about sharing information over the years. In spite of the protection and the new, tougher, laws, cameras have been destroyed and stolen and well-known tigers suddenly 'disappeared'. My guess is the tiger will always be an 'enemy of the State' for many. And tigers know. Reply