TIGER SUBSPECIES, HYBRIDS, MUTANTS AND EXTINCT ONES

TIGER SUBSPECIES

Indochinese tiger

There are five recognized subspecies of tigers still living today 1) Siberian tigers (P. t. altaica), currently found only in a small part of Russia, including the Amurussuri region of Primorye and Khabarovsk. 2) Bengal tigers (P. t. tigris), found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. 3) Indochinese tigers (P. t. corbetti), found in Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. 4) South China tigers (P. t. amoyensis), found in three isolated areas in southcentral China. 5) Sumatran tigers (P. t. sumatrae) are found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. [Source: Kevin Dacres, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Extinct species include: 1) Bali tigers (P. t. balica), 2) Javan tigers (P. t. sondaica), 3) Caspian tigers (P. t. virgata) are thought to be extinct. The later lived in Turkey, the Transcaucasus region, Iran, and central Asia

David Attenborough wrote: “Tigers were once found in most parts of Asia. They were so widespread, living in rain forest, marshlands and dry scrub country , that they developed into separate regional populations sufficiently distinct in size and coat patterns to be classified as subspecies.” At the turn of the 20th century, there were eight tiger subspecies. Three became extinct — the Bali, Javan and Caspian tigers (which once ranged from Turkey to Afghanistan) “and five remain — the Siberian (Amur), Bengal, South China, Bengal, Indochinese and Sumatran. There are reasonably large populations of Bengal tigers and Indochinese tigers. There are only a few hundred each of the Siberian, South China, and Sumatran tigers.

South China Tigers See Separate article Under China

Websites and Resources on Animals: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; BBC Earth bbcearth.com; A-Z-Animals.com a-z-animals.com; Live Science Animals livescience.com; Animal Info animalinfo.org ; World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worldwildlife.org the world’s largest independent conservation body; National Geographic National Geographic ; Endangered Animals (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) iucnredlist.org

Bengal Tigers

Bengal tiger

Bengal tigers are the most common tiger and the second largest after the Siberian tiger. There are reasonably large populations of them in the wild (2,970 to 4,300 animals) and they are found in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. They are the symbol of India and make up the majority of tigers seen in zoos and circuses. Their main prey are chital (spotted deer), sambar (a large Asiatic deer) and wild pigs. They are particularly fond of fawns.

An average male Bengal tiger weighs around 500 pounds (220 kilograms) stands 36 inches high at the shoulder, measure ten feet from the tip of their nose to end of their tail and has a head that is 16 inches long and 10 inches wide and pug marks that are seven inches across. Females are generally about a foot shorter and 100 pound lighter than males. The largest one on record, according to the Guinness Book of Records, was shot in Utter Pradesh on November 1967. It was 10 feet 7 inches long and weighed 857 pounds. Bengal tigers kill by overpowering their victim and either severing the spinal cord or applying a suffocating bite to the throat. Bengal tigers usually drag their kill to a safe place to eat, away from other predators

In the late 2000s, The World Wildlife Fund estimated that there are just 2,000 Bengal tigers left in the wild — in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma) and China. Of those, an estimated 200-250 were in Bangladesh. In 1900 there were an estimated 40,000 tigers in British India, but over the next century their numbers were devastated — first by hunting, and then by poaching and human encroachment on their habitat[Source: Jeremy Page, The Times, November 3, 2008]

Bengal Tiger Characteristics

The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black rings. Fourteen Bengal tiger skins in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London have 21–29 stripes. A recessive mutant is the golden tiger that has a pale golden fur with red-brown stripes.The mutants are very rare in nature. The home ranges occupied by adult male residents tend to be mutually exclusive, even though one of these residents may tolerate a transient or sub-adult male at least for a time. A male tiger keeps a large territory in order to include the home ranges of several females within its bounds, so that he may maintain mating rights with them. [Source: Wikipedia]

Caroline Alexander wrote in National Geographic: The tiger is powerful enough to kill and drag prey five times its weight, yet it can move through high grass, forest, and even water in unnerving silence. The common refrain of those who have witnessed — or survived — an attack is that the tiger "came from nowhere." They have claws up to four inches long and retractable, like a domestic cat's, and carnassial teeth that shatter bone. While able to achieve bursts above 35 miles an hour, the tiger is built for strength, not sustained speed. Short, powerful legs propel his trademark lethal lunge and fabled leaps. Recently, a tiger was captured on video jumping — flying — from flat ground to 13 feet in the air to attack a ranger riding an elephant. [Source: Caroline Alexander, National Geographic, December 2011]

Indochinese Tigers

The Indochinese tiger is found in Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Laos. They are smaller than Bengal tigers and have different stripping patterns. They measure 2.84 meters from the end of their nose to the tip of their tail and weigh an average of 195 kilograms. There are between 250 and 600 of them. Indochinese tigers are regarded as more elusive than their Indian cousins. The tigers in Thailand are considered the most secretive of all.

The Indochinese tiger is smaller than the Bengal and Siberian tigers.It’s ground coloration is darker, with more rather short and narrow single stripes; its skull is smaller than that of the Bengal tiger. Eleven Indochinese tiger skins in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, have 21–31 stripes. Males range in size from 2.5 to 2.85 cemters (100 to 112 inches) and range in weight, from 150 to 195 kilograms (331 to 430 pounds). Females range in size from 2.3 to 2,55 meters (91 to 100 inches) and range in weight, from 100 to 130 kilograms (220 to 290 pounds). [Source: Wikipedia]

The Indochinese tiger occurs in Myanmar and Thailand. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, including 85 in Myanmar and 20 in Vietnam, with the largest population unit surviving in Thailand, estimated at 189 to 252 individuals during the period 2009 to 2014. There numbers are thought to be declining in contrast to increasing for Bengal tigers.

In Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, seven female and four male tigers were equipped with GPS radio collars between June 2005 and August 2011. Females had a mean home range of 70.2 square kilometers (27.1 squre miles) and males of 267.6 square kilometers (103.3 square miles) Between 2013 and 2015, 11 prey species were identified at 150 kill sites. They ranged in weight from 3 to 287 kg (6.6 to 632.7 lb). Sambar deer, banteng, gaur, and wild boar were most frequently killed, but also remains of Asian elephant calves, hog badger, Old World porcupine, muntjac, serow, pangolin, and langur species were identified.

Siberian Tigers

Siberian tiger

The Siberian tiger is the world's largest cat. Also known as the Amur tiger, Manchurian tiger and Korean tiger, it can weigh up to 800 pounds. It is the only tiger that lives in the snow. Television naturalist David Attenborough called the Siberian tiger spectacularly large and said its large size is not unexpected because large size offers advantages in cold temperatures. [Source: Howard Quigley, National Geographic July 1993 [☹]; Maurice Hornocker, National Geographic, February, 1997; Peter Matthiessen, The Independent, March 5, 2000]

Siberian tigers are larger than Bengal tigers and twice as large as other Asian tiger species. Its thick coat makes it appear even larger. There around 400 to 500 left in the wild, mainly in the Primorye region of the Russian Far East — the largest continuous tiger population the world — and another 800 to 1,000 in captivity. India has more tigers than Russia but their population is broken up and fragmented.

Siberian tigers once inhabited all of Korea and much of Manchuria, eastern China and Siberia, perhaps as far east as Mongolia and Lake Baikal. On the banks of the Amur River archeologist have discovered 6,000 year old depictions of tigers carved by the Goldis people. Now the Siberian tiger’s range is limited to a 625-mile-long, 75-mile-wide, 60,000-square-mile strip of land in eastern Siberia near Vladivostok along the Pacific Ocean just north of North Korea. The heart of their range is the watershed of the Amur River and its tributary, the Ussuri, which forms the eastern border between Russia and China.

Decades of poaching and logging have ravaged the population of the Siberian tiger. Most Siberian tigers live in the 1,314-square-mile Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, Ussuriski Reserve, Lazoski reserve and Kedrobaya Pad Reserve in the Far East. There are maybe scattered 20 individuals in northeastern China and North Korea. Five or six Siberia tigers have been counted in the Jilin Province in northern China.

Book: "Tigers in the Snow" by Peter Matthiessen (Harvill Press, 2000]

Sumatran Tigers

Sumatran tigers are smaller, darker and their stripes are much closer to together than other species. They measure 2.54 meters from the end of their nose to the tip of their tail and weigh an average of 120 kilograms, with females being about 20 kilograms lighter than males.

Sumatran tigers are thought by some to be the most intelligent tiger subspecies. There is a story about one Sumatran tiger who was captured and placed on a ship that was supposed to deliver him to the Amsterdam Zoo. The tiger escaped from its cage and looked over the side of the ship and saw the coast of Malaysia, which was only four miles away. It then leapt in the water and started swimming toward Sumatra which was 80 miles away.

In Sumatra, many local people regard the tiger as an enforcer of proper behavior. They believe that a person who is killed by a tiger is being punished for some crime or transgression or broken taboo such as adultery or sharing food from the same pot.

There are plans to clone Sumatran tigers using the same or similar technology used in the past to clone gaur. The plan calls for Sumatran tiger cub to be produced by placing tiger DNA into the eggs of a large non-tiger feline and for the eggs to be raised by the same animal.. Researchers also hope to raise tigers from embryos placed in lions. Rare Indian desert cats have been raised from embryos placed on domestic cats.

South China Tigers

South China tigers are probably extinct in the wild now. They are believed to be the oldest of all tigers and the tiger from which all other tigers descended. They were so rare that no photograph of them in the wild exists and they haven't been seen in the wild for decades. These tigers had a low birth rate. Unlike the Manchurian and Bengal tigers, which are found in other countries, South China tigers were found only in China.

South China tigers measure 2.64 meters from the end of their nose to the tip of their tail and weigh an average of 75 kilograms. Females are about 20 kilograms lighter than males. They lived in forests, bush lands and grassland in mountain. areas. They liked attacking from hiding places and killed their prey with their paws and teeth and ate large-and-middle-sized herbivores and domestic animals. They could be found in South Yunnan and mountain areas in South China. [Source: Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, kepu.net]

South China tigers were fierce nocturnal animals. Their prey included: roe deer, deer, wild boars or even black bears. They were good at swimming. Tigers are quite cautious and suspicious. As soon as they sense anything unusual they tend to retreat or make detour rather than take any risks. Tigers are solitary and each tiger occupied a territory of 80-100 square kilometers.

Extinct Tiger Subspecies

There are three extinct tiger subspecies: the Caspian tiger, Javan tiger and Bali tiger. Two of the Indonesia's three species of tiger have become extinct. The Bali tiger died out in the 1940s and the Java tiger disappeared in the late 1980s. Both were victims of loss of habitat and deforestation and hunting. Java is one of the most densely populated places in the world.

Caspian tigers were 2.95 meters in length and weighed an average of 240 kilograms. Some of these made their way to ancient Rome. The Bali tiger measured 2.81 meters in length and weighed an average of 100 kilograms. The Javan tiger measured 2.49 meters and weighed an average of 140 kilograms.

The Javanese tigers that lived in on the Ujong Kulon peninsula were believed by local people to posess the souls of their ancestors souls and thus they refused to kill them. These wonderful animals nevertheless succumbed to poaching and loss of habitat with the last remaining animals dying out in the 1980s.

Javan tiger

Ironically it may have been a tiger may have saved the Javanese rhino from extinction. After World War II a group of poachers went to Ujong Kulon with a plan to wipe out all of the park's rhino. When the poachers entered the peninsula one of them was killed by a tiger. Since local villagers wouldn't help them to kill the tiger (although they would have helped with the rhinos) the poachers gave up and went back home. [Source: Return of Java's Wildlife" by Diter and Mary Plage, June 1985]

In 2017, Park rangers in Indonesia said they may have spotted a Javan tiger, declared extinct in the 1980s. The New York Times reported: Rangers at Ujung Kulon National Park in West Java last month photographed a big cat unlike any previously seen in the preserve. The pictures, released this week, set off a flurry of speculation that one of Indonesia’s legendary species was still alive, and offered a rare bit of positive environmental news to a country in which natural places are being destroyed at an alarming rate. [Source: Jon Emont, New York Times, September 15, 2017]

Ligers and Tigons

Lions and tigers have been interbred. "Ligers" are the product of a female tiger and male lion. "Tigons are progeny of male tigers and female lions, Male hybrids are believed to be sterile. Female ligers have been successfully bred with lions, producing cubs that reach adulthood. No ligers or tigons have ever been found in the wild. A natural pairing is extremely unlikely to happen in the wild because lion and tiger ranges almost never overlap.

According to Live Science: Humans have created a variety of hybrid cats by breeding different species together in captivity. The results are oddities like giant ligers (lion-tiger hybrids) and tiny pumapards (puma-leopard hybrids). Conservation experts condemn this deliberate crossing as unethical and say the hybrids won't help wildlife conservation efforts. However, it proves that different wild cats can mix. [Source: Patrick Pester, Live Science, October 25, 2023]

Ligers were elevated to pop culture fame after a reference in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite, but fewer people have heard of the tigon, the offspring of a female lion and a male tiger. Not all is well with these animals. Ligers are prone to health problems, such as rapid growth and heart problems. There is only a 0.1 percent chance that a baby is born to a liger.

White Tigers

White tigers — also known as Maltese tigers (sometimes referred to as P. t. melitensis) — are not a true subspecies) are a variety of tiger that results from inbreeding. They have white fur with grey hues, making them look blue from a distance. These 'white tigers' result when a cub is born with two recessive forms of a gene, a result of inbreeding. White tigers suffer from many problems including eye weakness, sway backs, and twisted necks. [Source: Kevin Dacres, Animal Diversity Web (ADW)]

David Attenborough wrote: “A tiger caught by Indian maharaja in the middle of the last century was white. He was so intrigued by it, he kept it in a private zoo. There it was selectively breed and soon “white tigers” were distributed among zoos internationally. They are not, however, a separate species. Their coloration is due to a genetic aberration called albinism, which occurs in many other species of animal, including mankind. Albino tigers, however, are exceedingly rare in the wild, and it not hard to understand that such pale, and conspicuous animals might find it difficult to hunt successfully in the darkness of the forest.”

In white tigers, the mutation inhibits color, while in golden tigers described below, a mutation in the so-called “wideband” gene extends the production period of pheomelanin, a reddish-yellow pigment, during hair growth. Snow-white tigers inherit both recessive traits, giving them a white coat with barely visible blonde stripes, giving them the nickname “stripeless tigers.” In the wild, less than one in 10,000 tiger cubs are born with the white fur trait.

White Tiger Genetics

A team of genetic scientists led by Dr. Luo Shujin from Peking University in Beijing, using whole-genome sequences of white and normally-colored Bengal tigers, has revealed that a mutation in a single pigment gene, called SLC45A2, is responsible for the unusual coloration of white tigers. [Sources: Current Biology; Peking University; Natalie Anderson of Sci-News.com, May 2013]

“The white tiger, an elusive Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris ) variant with white fur and dark stripes, has fascinated humans for centuries ever since its discovery in the jungles of India. Many white tigers in captivity are inbred in order to maintain this autosomal recessive trait and consequently suffer some health problems, leading to the controversial speculation that the white tiger mutation is perhaps a genetic defect,” the researchers explained in a paper published online in the journal Current Biology. “However, the genetic basis of this phenotype remains unknown.”

In the study, the scientists mapped the genomes of a family of 16 captive tigers, including both white and orange individuals. They then sequenced the whole genomes of each of the three parents in the family. The genetic analysis led them to a pigment gene, called SLC45A2, which had already been associated with light coloration in some animals, including horses, chickens, and fish. The gene variant found in the white tiger primarily inhibits the synthesis of red and yellow pigments but has little to no effect on black, which explains why white tigers still show characteristic dark stripes. “The white tiger represents part of the natural genetic diversity of the tiger that is worth conserving, but is now seen only in captivity,” Dr. Luo said.

Dr Luo said, “Historical records of white tigers on the Indian subcontinent date back to the 1500s, but the last known free-ranging white tiger was shot in 1958. That many white tigers were hunted as mature adults suggests that they were fit to live in the wild. It’s worth considering that tigers’ chief prey species, such as deer, are likely colorblind.”

Rare, Worrisome ‘Golden’ Tiger Spotted in Northwest India

In January 2024, tour guide and wildlife photographer Gaurav Ramnarayanan was leading a safari at Kaziranga National Park in northeast India, Rebecca Cairns of CNN wrote: The group suddenly heard an alarm call from a deer — the sound an animal makes when it sees a predator, says Ramnarayanan. He began driving, turning a corner before stopping the car in its tracks: around 700 meters away, there was a tiger on the road. “Initially when I saw him, he looked really white and didn’t look like a normal (Bengal) tiger,” says Ramnarayanan. “I’ve seen enough tigers to realize at the first glance that this one was not regular.” [Source: Rebecca Cairns, CNN, February 15, 2024]

His suspicions proved right when he looked at the predator through his camera lens: with strawberry-blonde stripes, the big cat was unmistakably a rare “golden” tiger. The tiger decided to come towards us, not with any intention for attack or any intention to harm us, but purely to pass through his path and proceed with marking his territory,” says Ramnarayanan. He was able to snap incredible shots of the tiger as it walked along the road, coming within 100 meters of the jeep.

Golden tigers — also known as golden tabby tigers or strawberry tigers — are not a subspecies: they’re the result of a genetic mutation that changes the color of their fur. And while beautiful, their presence has a dark side. Golden tigers, like white and snow-white tigers, are the result of a recessive trait that appears as a mutation in color-creating genes, says Uma Ramakrishnan, a professor of ecology at India’s National Center for Biological Sciences.

She likens the mutation to “spelling mistakes in the DNA” that result in different color combinations. In white tigers, the mutation inhibits color, while in golden tigers, a mutation in the so-called “wideband” gene extends the production period of pheomelanin, a reddish-yellow pigment, during hair growth. The golden trait is even rarer than the snow tiger trait. That’s why conservationists are concerned that the appearance of these tigers could be a symptom of inbreeding in isolated tiger populations. While the irregular fur coloring isn’t known to have adverse health effects, inbreeding can cause physical ailments including a flat face or crossed eyes, as well as other genetic mutations that could weaken the tiger’s defense against diseases, says Ramakrishnan.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated January 2025