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{{Short description|Extinct tiger population in Central and Western Asia}}
{{Population taxobox
| genus = Panthera
| species = tigris
| subspecies = tigris
| population = Caspian tiger
| status = EX
| extinct = 1970
| image = Туранский тигр.png
| image_caption = Stuffed specimen in the [[State Darwin Museum]], [[Moscow]]
| range_map = Panthera tigris virgata dis.png
| range_map_caption = Historical distribution
}}
The '''Caspian tiger''' was a ''[[Panthera tigris tigris]]'' population native to eastern [[Turkey]], northern [[Iran]], [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Caucasus]] around the [[Caspian Sea]], [[Central Asia]] to northern [[Afghanistan]] and the [[Xinjiang]] region in western [[China]].<ref name=catsg2017>{{cite journal |author=Kitchener, A. C. |author2=Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. |author3=Eizirik, E. |author4=Gentry, A. |author5=Werdelin, L. |author6=Wilting, A. |author7=Yamaguchi, N. |author8=Abramov, A. V. |author9=Christiansen, P. |author10=Driscoll, C. |author11=Duckworth, J. W. |author12=Johnson, W. |author13=Luo, S.-J. |author14=Meijaard, E. |author15=O'Donoghue, P. |author16=Sanderson, J. |author17=Seymour, K. |author18=Bruford, M. |author19=Groves, C. |author20=Hoffmann, M. |author21=Nowell, K. |author22=Timmons, Z. |author23=Tobe, S. |name-list-style=amp |year=2017 |title=A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue 11 |pages=66–68 |url=http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.10._SI_11/CN_Special_Issue_11_Revised_taxonomy_of_the_Felidae.pdf |archive-date=2017-07-31 |access-date=2017-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731185717/http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.10._SI_11/CN_Special_Issue_11_Revised_taxonomy_of_the_Felidae.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Until the [[Middle Ages]], it was also present in southern [[Russia]].<ref name=Geptner1972/> It inhabited sparse forests and [[riverine]] corridors in this region until the 1970s.<ref name=Nowell>{{cite book |author1=Nowell, K. |author2=Jackson, P. |name-list-style=amp |year=1996 |title=Wild Cats: status survey and conservation action plan |publisher=IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group |place=Gland, Switzerland |pages=55–65 |chapter=Tiger, ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |chapter-url=http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf#page=80}}</ref> This population was regarded as a distinct subspecies and assessed as extinct in 2003.<ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |author=Jackson, P. |author2=Nowell, K. |year=2011 |title=''Panthera tigris'' ssp. ''virgata'' |page=e.T41505A10480967 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T41505A10480967.en}}</ref>

Results of a [[Phylogeography|phylogeographic]] analysis evinces that the Caspian and [[Siberian tiger]] populations shared a common continuous geographic distribution until the early 19th century.<ref name=Driscoll2009>{{cite journal |last1=Driscoll |first1=C. A. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Bar-Gal |first3=G. K. |last4=Roca |first4=A. L. |last5=Luo |first5=S. |last6=Macdonald |first6=D. W. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates the Origin of the Extinct Caspian Tiger and Its Relationship to the Amur Tiger |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=e4125 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0004125 |pmid=19142238 |pmc=2624500|bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.4125D |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Some Caspian tigers were intermediate in size between Siberian and [[Bengal tiger]]s.<ref name=Geptner1972>{{cite book |author=Heptner, V. G. |author2=Sludskij, A. A. |name-list-style=amp |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation |location=Washington DC |chapter=Tiger |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/94/mode/2up |pages=95–202}}</ref><ref name=Mazak1981>{{cite journal |last=Mazák |first=V. |year=1981 |title=''Panthera tigris'' |journal=Mammalian Species |issue=152 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.2307/3504004 |jstor=3504004 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Firouz05>{{cite book |last=Firouz |first=E. |year=2005 |chapter=Tiger |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2EZCScFXloC&pg=PA66 |title=The complete fauna of Iran |publisher=I. B. Tauris |location=London, New York |isbn=978-1-85043-946-2 |pages=66–67}}</ref>

It was also called Balkhash tiger, [[Hyrcania]]n tiger, [[Turan]]ian tiger,<ref name=iucn/> and [[Mazandaran]] tiger.<ref name=Humphreys1999>{{cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=P. |last2=Kahrom |first2=E. |name-list-style=amp |date=1999 |chapter=Caspian tiger |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esV0hccod0kC&pg=PA75 |title=Lion and Gazelle: The Mammals and Birds of Iran |publisher=Images Publishing |location=Avon |pages=75–77 |isbn=9781860642296}}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==
[[File:Panthera tigris virgata.jpg|thumb|Tiger from the Caucasus in Berlin Zoological Garden, 1899<ref name="Nowell"/>]]
''Felis virgata'' was a [[scientific name]] used by [[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger]] in 1815 for the greyish tiger in the area surrounding the Caspian Sea.<ref name=Illiger>{{cite journal |last1=Illiger |first1=C. |year=1815 |title=Überblick der Säugethiere nach ihrer Verteilung über die Welttheile |journal=Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin |volume=1804−1811 |pages=39–159 |url=http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh/18041811&seite:int=195 |access-date=2020-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608070026/http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh%2F18041811&seite%3Aint=195 |archive-date=2019-06-08 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
''Tigris septentrionalis'' was the scientific name proposed by [[Konstantin Satunin]] in 1904 for a skull and mounted skins of tigers that were killed in the [[Lankaran Lowland]] in the 1860s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Satunin, K. |date=1906 |title=Die Säugetiere des Talyschgebietes und der Mugansteppe |trans-title=The mammals of the Talysch and the Mugan steppe regions |journal=Mitteilungen des Kaukasischen Museums |volume=2 |pages=263–394|url=https://archive.org/details/izviestiiami219051906tbil/page/308/mode/2up}}</ref>
''Felis tigris lecoqi'' and ''Felis tigris trabata'' were proposed by [[Ernst Schwarz (zoologist)|Ernst Schwarz]] in 1916 for tiger skins and skulls from [[Lop Nur]] and [[Ili River]] areas, respectively.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Schwarz, E. |year=1916 |title=Zwei neue Lokalformen des Tigers aus Centralasien |trans-title=Two new local races of the Tiger from Central Asia |journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger |volume=47 |issue=12 |pages=351–354 |url=https://archive.org/details/zoologischeranze47deut/page/350/mode/2up}}</ref>

In 1929, [[Reginald Innes Pocock]] subordinated the tiger to the [[genus]] ''[[Panthera]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pocock, R. I. |year=1929 |title=Tigers |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages= 505–541 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbomb33341929bomb/page/n133}}</ref> For several decades, the Caspian tiger was considered a distinct tiger [[subspecies]].<ref name="Mazak1981"/><ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Carnivora |id=14000267 |page=548 |heading=Subspecies ''Panthera tigris virgata''}}</ref>

In 1999, the [[Valid name (zoology)|validity]] of several tiger subspecies was questioned. Most putative subspecies described in the 19th and 20th centuries were distinguished on basis of fur length and colouration, striping patterns and body size, hence characteristics that vary widely within populations. [[Morphology (biology)|Morphologically]], tigers from different regions vary little, and [[gene flow]] between populations in those regions is considered to have been possible during the [[Pleistocene]]. Therefore, it was proposed to recognize only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely ''[[Mainland Asian tiger|P. t. tigris]]'' in mainland Asia, and [[Javan tiger#Taxonomy|''P. t. sondaica'']] in the [[Greater Sunda Islands]] and possibly in [[Sundaland]].<ref name=Kitchener1999>{{cite book |last=Kitchener |first=A. |date=1999 |chapter=Tiger distribution, phenotypic variation and conservation issues |chapter-url=http://www.nfwf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=3060&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm |editor1-last=Seidensticker |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Christie |editor2-first=S. |editor3-last=Jackson |editor3-first=P. |title=Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=19–39 |isbn=978-0-521-64835-6 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423162028/http://www.nfwf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home}}</ref>

At the start of the 21st century, [[genetics|genetic]] studies were carried out using 20 tiger bone and tissue samples from museum collections and [[Sequencing DNA|sequencing]] at least one segment of five [[Mitochondrial DNA|mitochondrial]] genes. Results revealed a low amount of variability in the mitochondrial DNA in Caspian tigers; and that Caspian and Siberian tigers were remarkably similar, indicating that the Siberian tiger is the genetically closest living relative of the Caspian tiger. [[Phylogeographic]] analysis indicates that the [[common ancestor]] of Caspian and Siberian tigers colonized [[Central Asia]] via the [[Gansu]]−[[Silk Road]] region from eastern China less than 10,000 years ago, and subsequently traversed eastward to establish the Siberian tiger population in the [[Russian Far East]]. The Caspian and Siberian tigers were likely a single contiguous population until the early 19th century, but became isolated from another due to fragmentation and loss of habitat during the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="Driscoll2009" />

In 2015, morphological, ecological and molecular traits of all putative tiger subspecies were analysed in a combined approach. Results support distinction of the two evolutionary groups continental and Sunda tigers. The authors proposed recognition of only two subspecies, namely ''P. t. tigris'' comprising the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South Chinese, Siberian and Caspian tiger populations, and ''P. t. sondaica'' comprising the [[Javan tiger|Javan]], [[Bali tiger|Bali]] and [[Sumatran tiger]] populations. Tigers in mainland Asia fall into two [[clade]]s, namely a northern clade formed by the Caspian and Siberian tiger populations, and a southern clade formed by populations in remaining mainland Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation |last1=Wilting |first1=A. |last2=Courtiol |first2=A. |first3=P. |last3=Christiansen |first4=J. |last4=Niedballa |first5=A. K. |last5=Scharf |first6=L. |last6=Orlando |first7=N. |last7=Balkenhol |first8=H. |last8=Hofer |first9=S.|last9=Kramer-Schadt |first10=J. |last10=Fickel |first11=A. C. |last11=Kitchener, A. |name-list-style=amp |year=2015 |volume=11 |issue=5 |page=e1400175 |pmc=4640610 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.1400175 |pmid=26601191 |journal=Science Advances |bibcode=2015SciA....1E0175W}}</ref>

In 2017, the Cat Specialist Group revised felid [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] and now recognizes the tiger populations in continental [[Asia]] as ''P. t. tigris''.<ref name=catsg2017/>
However, a genetic study published in 2018 supported six [[monophyletic]] [[clade]]s, with the Amur and Caspian tigers being distinct from other mainland Asian populations, thus supporting the traditional concept of six living subspecies.<ref name="Luo_al2018">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Y.-C. |first2=X. |last2=Sun |first3=C. |last3=Driscoll |first4=D. G. |last4=Miquelle |first5=X. |last5=Xu |first6=P. |last6=Martelli |first7=O. |last7=Uphyrkina |first8=J. L. D. |last8=Smith |first9=S. J. |last9=O'Brien |first10=S.-J. |last10=Luo |name-list-style=amp |title=Genome-wide evolutionary analysis of natural history and adaptation in the world's tigers |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=23 |year=2018 |pages=3840–3849.e6 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.019 |pmid=30482605 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2018CBio...28E3840L }}</ref>

== Characteristics ==
{{multiple image |align=right|direction=vertical
 |image1=Babremazandaran.jpg |caption1=Skin of a Caspian tiger from Iran
 |image2=|caption2=Comparative illustration of the stripe patterns on the tails of Caspian (left) and Siberian tigers (right)<ref name="Geptner1972"/>
 |image3=Extantigerturanianwksciam97.jpg |caption3=Illustration of two Caspian tigers}}

=== Fur ===
Photographs of skins of Caspian and [[Siberian tigers]] indicate that the main background colour of the Caspian tiger's fur varied and was generally brighter and more uniform than that of the Siberian tiger. The stripes were narrower, fuller and more closely set than those of tigers from [[Manchuria]]. The colour of its stripes was a mixture of brown or cinnamon shades. Pure black patterns were invariably found only on head, neck, the middle of the back and at the tip of the tail. Angular patterns at the base of the tail were less developed than those of Far Eastern populations. The contrast between the summer and winter coats was sharp, though not to the same extent as in Far Eastern populations. The winter coat was paler, with less distinct patterns. The summer coat had a similar density and hair length to that of the Bengal tiger, though its stripes were usually narrower, longer and closer set. It had the thickest fur amongst tigers, possibly due its occurrence in the temperate parts of [[Asia]].<ref name="Geptner1972"/><ref name="Mazak1981"/><ref name=Firouz05/>

=== Size ===
Male Caspian tigers had a body length of {{convert|270|-|295|cm|in|abbr=on}} and weighed {{convert|170|-|240|kg|lb|abbr=on}}; females measured {{convert|240|-|260|cm|in|abbr=on}} in head-to-body and weighed {{convert|85|-|135|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Mazak1981"/> Maximum skull length in males was {{convert|297|-|365.8|mm|in|abbr=on}}, while that of females was {{convert|195.7|-|255.5|mm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Geptner1972"/> Its [[occiput]] was broader than of the Bengal tiger.<ref name="Kitchener1999" />
It ranked among the largest extant [[Felidae|cat]] species, along with the Siberian tiger.<ref name="Mazak1981"/><ref name="Geptner1972"/><ref name="nowak">{{Cite book |last=Nowak |first=R. M. |year=1999 |title=Walker's Mammals of the World |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8}}</ref> 

Some individuals attained exceptional sizes. In 1954, a tiger was killed near the [[Sumbar River]] in [[Kopet-Dag]], whose stuffed skin was put on display in a [[museum]] in [[Ashgabat]]. Its head-to-body length was {{convert|2.25|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Its skull had a condylobasal length of about {{convert|305|mm|in|abbr=on}}, and [[Zygomatic bone|zygomatic]] width of {{convert|205|mm|in|abbr=on}}. Its skull length was {{convert|385|mm|in|abbr=on}}, hence more than the known maximum of {{convert|365.8|mm|in|abbr=on}} for this population, and slightly exceeding skull length of most Siberian tigers.<ref name="Geptner1972"/>
In [[Prishibinske]], a tiger was killed in February 1899. Measurements after skinning revealed a body length of {{convert|270|cm|ft|abbr=on}} between the pegs, plus a {{convert|90|cm|ft|abbr=on}} long tail, giving it a total length of about {{convert|360|cm|ft|abbr=on}}. Measurements between the pegs of up to {{convert|2.95|m|ft|abbr=on}} are known.<ref name="Mazak1981"/> It was said to have been "a tiger of immense proportions" and "no smaller than the local horse breeds." It had rather long fur.<ref name="Geptner1972"/>

Skull size and shape of Caspian tigers significantly overlap with and are almost indistinguishable from other tiger specimens in mainland Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=J. H. |last=Mazák |title=Craniometric variation in the tiger (''Panthera tigris''): Implications for patterns of diversity, taxonomy and conservation |year=2010 |journal=Mammalian Biology – Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde|pages=45–68 |volume=75 |issue=1 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2008.06.003|bibcode=2010MamBi..75...45M }}</ref>

== Distribution and habitat ==
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |image1=TurkmenbashiSea.jpg |caption1=Shore of the [[Türkmenbaşy Gulf]] at the Caspian Sea |image2=TigrisRiver.JPG |caption2=The [[Tigris]] River outside Mosul in Iraq |image3=Tělecké_jezero_1.JPG |caption3=Landscape in the Altai Mountains}}
In the 19th century, tigers occurred in:
* the [[Eastern Anatolia Region]], which is considered to have been the westernmost area where tigers occurred.<ref name=Nowell/> Records are known from the region of [[Mount Ararat]], [[Şanlıurfa Province|Şanlıurfa]], [[Şırnak Province|Şırnak]], [[Siirt Province|Siirt]] and [[Hakkari Province]]s in eastern Turkey; in the Hakkari Province tigers possibly occurred up to the 1990s.<ref name=Kock>{{cite journal |last=Kock |first=D. |year=1990 |title=Historical record of a tiger, ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758), in Iraq |journal=Zoology in the Middle East |volume=4 |pages=11–15 |doi=10.1080/09397140.1990.10637583}}</ref><ref name=Can2004>{{cite book |author=Can, Ö. E. |year=2004 |title=Status, conservation and management of large carnivores in Turkey |location=Strasbourg |publisher=Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats |url=http://www1.nina.no/lcie_new/pdf/635012243306881534_COE%20LCs%20in%20Turkey%202004.pdf}}</ref> The only confirmed record in [[Iraq]] dates to 1887 when a tiger was shot near [[Mosul]], which is considered to have been a migrant from southeastern Turkey.<ref name=Kock/> There are also claims of historical tiger presence in the area of the [[Tigris–Euphrates river system]] in Iraq and [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Hatt, R. T. |year=1959 |title=The mammals of Iraq |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan}}</ref><ref name=Masseti2009>{{cite journal |author=Masseti, M. |year=2009 |editor=Neubert, E. |editor2=Amr, Z. |editor3=Taiti, S. |editor4=Gümüs, B. |title=Animal Biodiversity in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008 |journal=ZooKeys |issue=31 |pages=229–252 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.31.170 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2009ZooK...31..229M |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/lib/ajax_srv/generate_pdf.php?document_id=2126&readonly_preview=1}}</ref>
* the extreme southeast of the Caucasus, such as in hilly and lowland forests of the [[Talysh Mountains]], in the [[Lenkoran Lowland]]s, in the lowland forests of [[Göytəpə, Jalilabad]], from where tigers moved into the eastern plains of the [[Trans-Caucasus]] up to the [[Don River (Russia)|Don River basin]]; the [[Arasbaran]] and [[Zangezur Mountains]] of northwestern Persia.<ref name=Geptner1972/>
* in the region of the [[Caspian Sea]], where its distribution was patchy and associated with [[wetland]]s such as river basins, lake edges and sea shores.<ref name=Geptner1972/> In Iran, historical records are known only from along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and adjacent [[Alborz Mountains]].<ref name=Faizolahi16>{{cite journal |author=Faizolahi, K. |year=2016 |title=Tiger in Iran – historical distribution, extinction causes and feasibility of reintroduction |journal=Cat News |issue=Special issue 10 |pages=5–13}}</ref>
* [[Central Asia]], such as in southwestern [[Turkmenistan|Turkmenia]] along the [[Atrek River]] and its tributaries, and the [[Sumbar River|Sumbar]] and [[Chandyr River]]s; in the western and southwestern parts of [[Kopet-Dag]]; in the environs of [[Ashkabad]] in the northern foothills; in Afghanistan along the upper reaches of [[Hari-Rud]] at [[Herat]], and along the jungles in the lower reaches of the river; around [[Tejen]] and [[Murgap, Turkmenistan|Murgap]] and along the [[Kushka River|Kushka]] and Kashan rivers; in the [[Amu Darya]] basin as far the [[Aral Sea]] and along the entire coast of the Aral Sea; along the [[Syr-Darya]] to the [[Fergana Valley]] as far as [[Tashkent]] and the western spur of [[Talas Alatau]]; along the [[Chu River|Chu]] and [[Ili River]]s; all along the southern shore of [[Lake Balkhash]] and northwards into the southern [[Altai Mountains]], and to southeastern [[Transbaikal]] or [[Western Siberia]] in the east.<ref name=Geptner1972/><ref name=eds1999>{{cite book |last1=Seidensticker |first1=J. |last2=Christie |first2=S. |last3=Jackson |first3=P. |name-list-style=amp |year=1999 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbQ8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR15 |chapter=Preface |title=Riding the Tiger. Tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, U.K. |pages=XV–XIX |isbn=978-0-521-64835-6}}</ref> In China, it occurred in the [[Tarim Basin|Tarim]], [[Manasi River]] and [[Lop Nur]] basins.<ref name=Nowell/> 

Its former distribution can be approximated by examining the distribution of [[ungulate]]s in the region.<ref name=Sunquist1999>{{cite book |author=Sunquist, M. |author2=Karanth, K. U. |author3=Sunquist, F. |name-list-style=amp |year=1999 |chapter=Ecology, behaviour and resilience of the tiger and its conservation needs |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbQ8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5 |pages=5–18 |title=Riding the Tiger. Tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes |editor1-last=Seidensticker, J. |editor2-last=Christie, S. |editor3-last=Jackson, P. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, U.K.|isbn=9780521648356}}</ref> [[Wild boar]] was the numerically dominant ungulate in forested habitats, along watercourses, in [[reed bed]]s and in thickets of the Caspian and Aral Seas. Where watercourses penetrated deep into desert areas, suitable wild pig and tiger habitat was often linear, only a few kilometers wide at most. [[Red Deer|Red]] and [[roe deer]] occurred in forests around the [[Black Sea]] to the western side and around the southern side of the Caspian Sea in a narrow belt of forest cover. Roe deer occurred in forested areas south of Lake Balkhash. [[Bactrian deer]] lived in the narrow belt of forest habitat on the southern border of the Aral Sea, and southward along the Syr-Darya and Amu Darya rivers.<ref name=Geptner1972/>

Throughout the [[late Pleistocene]] and [[Holocene]], the Caspian tiger population was likely connected to the [[Bengal tiger]] population through corridors below elevations of {{cvt|4000|m}} in the [[Hindu Kush]], before [[gene flow]] was interrupted by humans.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Cooper, D. M. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Dugmore, A. J. |author3=Gittings, B. M. |author4=Scharf, A. K. |author5=Wilting, A. |author6=Kitchener, A. C. |year=2016 |title=Predicted Pleistocene–Holocene range shifts of the tiger (''Panthera tigris'') |journal=Diversity and Distributions |volume=22 |issue=11 |pages=1199–1211 |doi=10.1111/ddi.12484 |url=https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6407259/data |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016DivDi..22.1199C }}</ref>

=== Local extinction ===
[[File:Caspian tiger, north iran.jpg|thumb|Tiger killed in northern Iran, early 1940s]]
The demise of the Caspian tiger began with the [[Russian Turkestan|Russian colonisation of Turkestan]] during the late 19th century.<ref name=Johnson1991>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=P.|year=1991|title=The birth of the Modern World Society, 1815–1830 |publisher=Harper Collins Publishers |location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-016574-1|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/birthofmodernwor00john}}</ref>
Its extirpation was caused by several factors:
* Tigers were killed by large parties of sportsmen and military personnel who also hunted tiger prey species such as the [[Bactrian deer]], and middle asian [[Wild boar]]. This wild pig's range underwent a rapid decline between the middle of the 19th century and the 1930s due to overhunting, natural disasters, and diseases such as [[swine fever]] and [[foot-and-mouth disease]], which caused large and rapid die-offs.<ref name=Geptner1972/>
* The extensive reed beds of tiger habitat were increasingly converted to cropland for planting [[Cotton plantation|cotton]] and other crops that grew well in the rich [[silt]] along rivers.<ref name=Johnson1991/>
* The tiger was already [[Vulnerable species|vulnerable]] due to the restricted nature of its distribution, having been confined to watercourses within the large expanses of desert environment.<ref name=Sunquist1999 />

Until the early 20th century, the regular [[Russian Empire|Russian]] army was used to clear [[predator]]s from forests, around settlements, and potential agricultural lands. Until [[World War I]], about 50 tigers were killed in the forests of Amu Darya and [[Piandj River]]s each year. High incentives were paid for tiger skins up to 1929. Wild pigs and deer, the prey base of tigers, were decimated by deforestation and subsistence hunting by the increasing human population along the rivers, supported by growing agricultural developments.<ref name=Jungius09>{{cite book |last1=Jungius |first1=H. |last2=Chikin |first2=Y. |last3=Tsaruk |first3=O. |last4=Pereladova |first4=O. |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Pre-Feasibility Study on the Possible Restoration of the Caspian Tiger in the Amu Darya Delta |url=http://www.wwf.ru/data/asia/tiger/tiger_pre-feasibility_study.pdf|publisher=WWF Russia |access-date=19 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022065143/http://www.wwf.ru/data/asia/tiger/tiger_pre-feasibility_study.pdf|archive-date=22 October 2016 |url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> By 1910, cotton plants were estimated to occupy nearly one-fifth of Turkestan's [[arable land]], with about one half located in the [[Fergana Valley]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Brower|first=D. R. |year=2003|url={{Google books|plainurl=yes |id=XzdpM968erkC|page=1}} |title=Turkestan and the fate of the Russian Empire |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-29744-8}}</ref>

=== Last sightings ===
In Iraq, a tiger was killed near [[Mosul]] in 1887.<ref name=Nowell/><ref name=Kock/>
In [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], the last known tiger was killed in 1922 near [[Tbilisi]], after taking domestic livestock.<ref name=Ognev>{{cite book|last=Ognev|first=S. I.|year=1935|title=Mammals of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries|volume=2| chapter=Carnivora (Fissipedia) |publisher=National Science Foundation|location=Washington D. C.}}</ref><ref name=Nowell/>
In China, tigers disappeared from the [[Tarim River]] basin in [[Xinjiang]] in the 1920s.<ref name=Ognev/><ref name=Nowell/>
In [[Azerbaijan]], the last known tiger was killed in 1932; however, tigers were allegedly sighted in later years in the [[Talysh Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Novikov, A. G. |title=Khishchnye mlekopitayushchie fauny SSSR |trans-title=Carnivorous mammals of the fauna of the USSR |date=1962|publisher=Israel program for scientific translations |oclc=797893515}}</ref>

In Turkey, a pair of tigers was allegedly killed in the area of [[Selçuk]] in 1943.<ref name=Kirk2002>{{cite journal |first=K. |last=Johnson |title=The Status of mammalian carnivores in Turkey |journal=Endangered Species Update 19 |issue=6 |pages=232–237 |date=2002 |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/91257/ESUnovdeconline2002.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref> Several tiger skins found in the early 1970s near [[Uludere, Şırnak|Uludere]] indicated the presence of a tiger population in eastern Turkey.<ref>{{cite journal |first=T. |last=Baytop |year=1974 |title=La presence du vrai tigre, ''Panthera tigris'' (Linne 1758) en Turquie |journal=Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=254–256}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=H. |last=Kumerloeve |year=1974 |title=Zum Vorkommen des Tigers auf türkischem Boden |journal=Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=348–350}}</ref> Questionnaire surveys conducted in this region revealed that one to eight tigers were killed each year until the mid-1980s, and that tigers likely had survived in the region until the early 1990s. Due to lack of interest, in addition to security and safety reasons, no further field surveys were carried out in the area.<ref name=Can2004/>

In [[Iran]], one of the last known tigers was shot in [[Golestan National Park]] in 1953. Another individual was sighted in [[Golestān Province]] in 1958.<ref name=Firouz05/>
In [[Turkmenistan]], the last known tiger was killed in January 1954 in the [[Sumbar River]] valley in the [[Kopet-Dag Range]].<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Turkmenistan Publishing House |author=Ministry of Forest of Turkmenistan |year=1999|title=The Red Data Book of Turkmenistan |volume=1|edition=2nd}}</ref>
It reportedly disappeared in the [[Manasi River]] basin in the [[Tian Shan]] Range west of [[Ürümqi]] in the 1960s.<ref name=Geptner1972/> The last record from the lower reaches of the Amu Darya river was an unconfirmed observation in 1968 near [[Nukus]] in the Aral Sea area. By the early 1970s, tigers disappeared from the river's lower reaches and the Pyzandh Valley in the Turkmen-Uzbek-Afghan border region.<ref name=Geptner1972/>
The [[Piandj River]] area between Afghanistan and Tajikistan was a stronghold of the Caspian tiger until the late 1960s. The latest sighting of a tiger in the Afghan-Tajik border area dates to 1998 in the [[Babatag Range]].<ref name=Jungius09/> Two tigers were captured in April 1997 in Afghanistan's [[Laghman Province]].<ref>{{cite report |year=1997 |title=Afghanistan Weekly Update No. 215 |author=UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs |work=UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-weekly-update-no-215}}</ref>

In [[Kazakhstan]], the last Caspian tiger was recorded in 1948, in the environs of the [[Ili River]], the last known stronghold in the region of [[Lake Balkhash]].<ref name=Geptner1972/> In May 2006, a Kazakh hunter claimed to have seen a female Caspian tiger with cubs near Lake Balkhash. However, this sighting remains uncertain and unconfirmed.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Rossi, L. |chapter=Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats: Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation |date=2020 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-42335-3_12 |pages=393–417|editor=Angelici, F.M. |place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-030-42335-3 |author2=Scuzzarella, C.M. |author3=Angelici, F.M. |title=Problematic Wildlife II |s2cid=218943307 |editor2=Rossi, L.}}</ref>

== Behaviour and ecology ==
[[File:Elephant Attacking a Feline.jpg|right|thumb|Mosaic of an [[Syrian elephant|elephant]] attacking a tiger, from [[Roman Syria]], which occupied parts of what is now [[Anatolia]] and [[Mesopotamia]]<ref name="Sicker2001">{{cite book |author=Sicker, M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKK4ge9FD14C&pg=PP1 |title=Between Rome and Jerusalem: 300 years of Roman-Judaean relations |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |location=Westport |year=2001 |access-date=26 July 2012|isbn = 9780275971403}}</ref>]]

No information is available for home ranges of Caspian tigers. In search for prey, they possibly prowled widely and followed [[Animal migration|migratory]] [[ungulate]]s from one pasture to another. 
[[Sus (genus)|Wild pig]]s and [[cervid]]s probably formed their main prey base. In many regions of Central Asia, [[Bactrian deer]] and [[roe deer]] were important prey species, as well as [[Caspian red deer]] and [[goitered gazelle]] in Iran; [[Eurasian golden jackal]]s, [[jungle cat]]s, [[locust]]s, and other small mammals in the lower Amu Darya River area; [[Saiga antelope|saiga]]s, [[wild horse]]s and [[Persian onager]]s in the [[Miankaleh Peninsula]]; [[Turkmenian kulan]]s, [[Mongolian wild ass]]es, and [[mountain sheep]] in the Zhana-Darya and around the Aral Sea; and [[Manchurian wapiti]] and [[moose]] in the area of [[Lake Baikal]]. They caught fish in flooded areas and irrigation channels. In winter, they frequently attacked dogs and livestock straying away from herds. They preferred drinking water from rivers, and drank from lakes in seasons when water was less brackish.<ref name="Geptner1972" />

=== Disease ===
Two tigers in southwestern [[Tajikistan]] harbored 5–7 tapeworms (''[[Taenia bubesei]]'') in their [[small intestine|small]] and [[large intestine]]s.<ref name="Geptner1972" />

== Conservation ==
In 1938, [[Tigrovaya Balka]] was the first protected area in [[Tajikistan]] established in the lower reaches of [[Vakhsh River]] between the [[Panj River|Panj]] and [[Kofarnihon River]]s; it was apparently the last refuge of the Caspian tiger. A tiger was seen there in 1958.<ref name=Dybas10>{{cite journal |last=Dybas |first=C. L. |year=2010 |doi=10.1525/bio.2010.60.11.3 |title=The Once and Future Tiger |journal=BioScience |volume=60 |issue=11 |pages=872–877 |s2cid=83471382}}</ref>
After 1947, tigers were legally protected in the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]].<ref name=Jungius09/>

In Iran, Caspian tigers had been protected since 1957, with heavy fines for shooting. In the early 1970s, biologists from the [[Department of Environment (Iran)|Department of Environment]] searched several years for Caspian tigers in the uninhabited areas of Caspian forests, but did not find any evidence of their presence.<ref name=Firouz05/>

=== In captivity ===
[[File:Caspian tiger.JPG|thumb|Colour-enhanced photo of the captive tiger in [[Berlin Zoo]], 1899]]
A tiger from the Caucasus was housed at [[Berlin Zoo]] in the late 19th century.<ref name=Nowell/>  A tigress caught in [[Turkestan]] was presented to [[London Zoo]] on 12 December 1885.<ref>{{Cite book |first=P. L. |last=Sclater |title=List of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London |date=1896 |publisher=London, Printed for the Society |edition=9th |publication-date=1896 |pages=75}}</ref> DNA from a tiger caught in northern Iran and housed at [[Moscow Zoo]] in the 20th century was used in the genetic test that established the Caspian tiger's close genetic relationship with the Siberian tiger.<ref name=Driscoll2009/> This tigress lived from 1924 to 1942 and was presented to the Soviet ambassador in Iran.<ref name=Nowell/> Another tigress kept at [[Tierpark Hagenbeck]] in Hamburg between 1955 and 1960 was probably the last Caspian tiger in captivity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Faizolahi |first=K. |date=2016 |title=Tiger in Iran - historical distribution, extinction causes and feasibility of reintroduction. |url=http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/filesharing/5.Cat_News/5.3._Special_Issues/5.3.9._SI_10/Faizolahi_2016_Tiger_in_Iran.pdf |journal=Cat News |volume=Special Issue |issue=10 |pages=5–13}}</ref> An individual was born in [[Brookfield Zoo Chicago]] on 7 May 1935 and was still living on 1 January 1948.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weigl |first=R. |title=Longevity of mammals in captivity; from the Living Collections of the world |publisher=E. Schweizerbartsche |year=2005 |isbn=9783510613793}}</ref>

=== Reintroduction project===
{{main|Siberian Tiger Introduction Project}}
Stimulated by recent findings that the Siberian tiger is the closest relative of the Caspian tiger, discussions started as to whether the Siberian tiger could be appropriate for [[reintroduction]] into a safe place in Central Asia, where the Caspian tiger once roamed.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Applying molecular genetic tools to tiger conservation |journal=Integrative Zoology |year=2010 |pages=351–362 |volume=5 |issue=4 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-4877.2010.00222.x |first1=S.-J. |last1=Luo |first2=W. E. |last2=Johnson |first3=S. J. |last3=O'Brien |name-list-style=amp |pmid=21392353 |pmc=6984346}}</ref> The Amu Darya delta was suggested as a potential site for such a project. A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if the area is suitable, and if such an initiative would receive support from relevant decision makers. A viable tiger population of about 100 animals would require at least {{cvt|5000|km2}} of large tracts of contiguous habitat, with rich prey populations. Such habitat is not currently available, and cannot be provided in the short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for the reintroduction, at least at the current stage.<ref name=Jungius09/>

While the restoration of the Caspian tiger has stimulated discussions, the locations for the tiger have yet to become fully involved in the planning. But through preliminary ecological surveys it has been revealed that some small populated areas of Central Asia have preserved natural habitat suitable for tigers.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Driscoll, C.A.|author2=Chestin, I. |author3=Jungius, H. |author4=Pereladova, O. |author5=Darman, Y. |author6=Dinerstein, E. |author7=Seidensticker, J. |author8=Sanderson, J. |author9=Christie, S. |author10=Luo, S.J. |author11=Shrestha, M. |author12=Zhuravlev, Y. |author13=Uphyrkina, O. |author14=Jhala, Y.V. |author15=Yadav, S.P. |author16=Pikunov, D.G. |author17=Yamaguchi, N. |author18=Wildt, D.E. |author19=J.L.D. Smith|author20=L. Marker|author21=P.J. Nyhus|author22=R. Tilson|author23=D.W. Macdonald |author24=O’Brien, S.J. |name-list-style=amp|year=2012|title=A postulate for tiger recovery: the case of the Caspian Tiger |journal=Journal of Threatened Taxa |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=2637–2643 |doi=10.11609/jott.o2993.2637-43 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In autumn 2023, two captive tigers from the [[Netherlands]] had arrived at the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve in Kazakhstan, and another three to four tigers are expected to be introduced from [[Russia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=Kazakhstan restores populations of Przewalski's Horse, Turanian Tiger, and Snow Leopard |work=The Times Of Central Asia |url=https://timesca.com/kazakhstan-restores-populations-of-przewalskis-horse-turanian-tiger-and-snow-leopard/?ref=fixthenews.com |access-date=2025-04-25}}</ref>

== In culture ==
{{multiple image |perrow=1 |image1=Odaenathus the Victorious.png |caption1=The 'Tiger Mosaic' in Palmyra |image2=Lion(or tiger) on the Sher-dor madrassa.JPG |caption2=Portal of the Sher-Dor [[Madrasa]] in [[Samarkand]] depicting a tiger}}
In the [[Roman Empire]], tigers and other large animals imported from Africa and Asia were used during [[Ludi|gladiatorial games]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVhXYli82rAC&pg=PA85 |chapter=The hunts of the amphitheatre |pages=81–106 |title=Cruelty and civilization: the Roman games |author=Auguet, R. |year=1994 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-10453-1}}</ref>
In the [[Taurus Mountains]], stone traps were used to capture [[leopard]]s and tigers.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Şekercioğlu, Ç.H. |author2=Anderson, S.|author3=Akcay, E.|author4=Bilgin, R.|author5=Can, O. |author6=Semiz, G. |name-list-style=amp |date=2011|title=Turkey's Globally Important Biodiversity In Crisis |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=144|issue=12|pages=2752–2769|doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2011.06.025|bibcode=2011BCons.144.2752S |s2cid=18094317 |hdl=11511/29877|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

In [[the Fables of Pilpay]], the tiger is described as furious and avid to rule over wilderness.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kāshifī, H. V. |year=1854 |title=The Anvari Suhaili; or the Lights of Canopus Being the Persian version of the Fables of Pilpay; or the Book Kalílah and Damnah rendered into Persian by Husain Vá'iz U'L-Káshifí |translator-last=Eastwick |translator-first=E. B. |publisher=Stephen Austin |location=Hertford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0oOAAAAQAAJ}}</ref>

The ''babr'' ({{langx|fa|{{Nastaliq|ببر}}}}, tiger) features in Persian and Central Asian culture. The name "Babr Mazandaran" is sometimes given to a prominent [[Wrestling|wrestler]].<ref name=Humphreys1999/> A Syrian mosaic in [[Palmyra]] depicts the [[Sassanids]] as tigers, possibly commemorating the victory of the Palmyrene King [[Odaenathus]] over [[Shapur I]]. The inscription on the mosaic conceals an earlier one that read: (Mrn), which is a title used by Odaenathus.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gawlikowski|language=fr|first=M. |year=2005 |title=L'apothéose d'Odeinat sur une Mosaïque Récemment Découverte à Palmyre |journal=Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |volume=149|issue=4|pages=1293–1304 |doi=10.3406/crai.2005.22944}}</ref> It possibly celebrates Odaenathus' victory over the Persians, the archer representing Odaenathus and the tigers the Persians; Odaenathus is about to be crowned with victory by the eagle flying above him.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.world-archaeology.com/category/issues/issue-12 |author=Gawlikowski, M. |year=2006 |title=Palmyra |journal=Current World Archaeology |volume=12 |page=32}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Tiger#Populations|Tiger populations]]
** [[Panthera tigris tigris|Mainland Asian populations]]
*** [[Bengal tiger]]
*** [[Indochinese tiger]]
*** [[Malayan tiger]]
*** [[Siberian tiger]]
*** [[South China tiger]]
** [[Sunda Island tiger|Sunda island populations]]
*** [[Bali tiger]]
*** [[Bornean tiger]]
*** [[Javan tiger]]
*** [[Sumatran tiger]]
{{Div col end}}
* {{Hlist|Prehistoric tigers: ''[[Panthera tigris soloensis]]'' | ''[[Panthera tigris trinilensis]]'' | ''[[Panthera tigris acutidens]]''}}
* [[Holocene extinction]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Abbott |first=J. |author-link=Sir James Abbott |title=A Narrative of a journey from Heraut to Khiva, Moscow and St. Petersburgh |publisher=James Madden |volume=1 |page=26 |year=1856 |location=[[Khiva]] |url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/17720/view/2/342/}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Schnitzler |first1=A. |last2=Hermann |first2=L. |title=Chronological distribution of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' and the Asiatic lion ''Panthera leo persica'' in their common range in Asia |journal=[[Mammal Review]] |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=340–353 |doi=10.1111/mam.12166 |date=2019|bibcode=2019MamRv..49..340S |s2cid=202040786 }}

== External links ==
*{{cite web |publisher=IUCN Cat Specialist Group |url=http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=569 |title=Caspian tiger (''Panthera tigris virgata'') |access-date=2014-11-12 |archive-date=2023-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331055449/http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=569 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite web |publisher=wildtiger.org |title=The Great Cats of Asia: Caspian Tiger |url=http://www.wildtiger.org/caspiantiger.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213331/http://www.wildtiger.org/caspiantiger.html |archive-date=2013-10-04 }}
*{{cite web |publisher=lairweb.org.nz |url=http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/caspian.html |title=The Caspian Tiger}}
*{{cite web |publisher=World Wildlife Fund Russia |url=https://wwf.ru/en/regions/central-asia/vosstanovlenie-turanskogo-tigra/ |title=Turanian tiger reintroduction |access-date=2019-12-09 |archive-date=2020-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514095923/https://wwf.ru/en/regions/central-asia/vosstanovlenie-turanskogo-tigra/ |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite web |publisher=reddit |author=Richard Freeman |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/megafaunarewilding/comments/ng2vpv/caspian_tiger_sightings_in_tajikistan_in_the/ |title=Animals & Men |date=November 2018}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q188535}}

[[Category:Tigers]]
[[Category:Extinct mammals of Asia]]
[[Category:Mammals of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Fauna of West Asia]]
[[Category:Fauna of Iran]]
[[Category:Mammals of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Mammal extinctions since 1500]]
[[Category:1958 in the environment]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger]]
[[Category:Mammals described in 1758]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]