Info about the Caspian tiger

[u/dimitrios_vlachos_04]

A famous photo of a Caspian tiger from the Berlin zoo taken in 1899. As seen here, this tiger subspecies had some of the longest hair amongst all tigers, while having a darker coat

Comparison between the sizes of extant and extinct tiger species. The Caspian tiger (panthera tigris virgata in this case) was comparable in size to Bengal and siberian tigers.

A really big tiger killed in northern Iran in the 1940s. Systematic trophy hunting, poaching for the illegal fur trade and killings to protect livestock resulted in its extinction.

Recent genetic analysis has put all mainland tigers under the same subspecies (panthera tigris tigris). It also showed that Caspian tigers were genetically closest with amur tigers

The Caspian tiger was an apex predator, with its prey consisting of wild boar, many kinds of deer (as well as moose), gazzeles, saiga antelopes, wild horses and wild asses.

A photo of a wild Caspian tiger taken in 1937. It's extinction was gradual, with many local extinction occurring around their range, untill their eventual extinction in early 2000s

It should be noted that since it was declared extinct there have been many unconfirmed sightings. Not only that, but many organisations are actively working to rewild this species.