The tiger (Panther Tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panther. It is best recognized by its orange fur with black vertical stripes and a white underside. As apex predators, they primarily hunt ungulates such as deer and wild boar. Although territorial and generally solitary, they are social predators, requiring large contiguous habitats to accommodate prey needs and offspring development. A tiger cub stays with its mother for about two years before leaving the mother's range and becoming independent. Tigers were first described scientifically in 1758. It used to be widely distributed from eastern Anatolia in the west to the Amur Basin in the east, and from the foothills of the Himalayas to Bali in the Sundae Islands in the south. Since the early 20th century, tiger populations have lost at least 93% of their historical range, becoming extinct in Western and Central Asia, Java and Bali, large areas of Southeast and South Asia, and China. From the temperate forests of Siberia to the subtropical and tropical forests of Indochina on the Indian subcontinent to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, the free-roaming range of tigers is fragmented.
Tigers are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. As of 2015, the world population of wild tigers was estimated to be between 3,062 and 3,948 adults, with most populations living in small, isolated niches. India currently hosts the largest tiger population. Habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching are the main reasons for population decline. Tigers are also victims of human-wildlife conflicts due to invasions into populated countries.
The tiger is one of the most famous and beloved, charismatic large animals in the world. Throughout its historical scope, it has played an important role in ancient myths and cultural folklore, and continues to be depicted in modern film and literature, appearing as the mascot of many flags, emblems, and sports teams. . The tiger is the national animal of India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and South Korea.
Etymology
Middle English tigre and Old English tigras are derived from Old French tigre and Latin tigris. It is borrowed from the Classical Greek τίγρις "Tigris", a foreign word of unknown origin, meaning "tiger" and the river Tigris. ') and the Avestan word tigrhi ('arrow'), which may refer to the leaping speed of the tiger, although these words are known to have no meaning associated with the tiger.
The genus name Panther comes from the Latin panther.
Taxonomy
In 1758 Linnaeus described the tiger in his book Systema Naturae, giving it the scientific name Felis tigris. In 1929, British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock assigned the species to the genus Panthera, using the scientific name Panther tigris.
Evolution
The tiger's closest living relatives were previously thought to be the Panther species lion, leopard and jaguar. Genetic analysis suggests that about 2.88 million years ago, tigers and snow leopards had different lineages from other Panther species, possibly more closely related than lions, leopards and jaguars. Panther geographical origin is most likely in northern Central Asia. The snow leopard lineage spread to Southeast Asia in the Miocene.
Panther zdanskyi is considered the sister taxon of modern tigers. It lived at the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 2 million years ago, and its fossils have been unearthed in northwestern China's Gansu province. It was smaller and more "primitive", but functionally and ecologically similar to modern tigers. Whether or not it had stripes is disputed. Northwestern China is believed to be the origin of the tiger lineage. The increased size of tigers is likely in response to adaptive radiation from prey such as deer and cattle that may have occurred in Southeast Asia during the early Pleistocene.
Panther tigris trinilensis lived about 1.2 million years ago and is known from fossils unearthed near Trinil, Java. Manxian tiger, Gangdong tiger, Trinil tiger and Japanese tiger became extinct in prehistoric times. Tigers reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern Beringia, Japan and Sakhalin. Some fossil skulls differ morphologically from lion skulls, which may indicate tigers in Alaska during the last Ice Age, about 100,000 years ago.
Fossil teeth and fossils found in Borneo are from Borneo tigers and have been dated to about 13,745 to 3,000 years old. It may have reached Borneo during the Ice Age when sea levels were low and survived until about 200 years ago. Two movable phalanx bones were found at Iru Cave, Palawan, among a collection of other animal bones and stone tools. They were smaller than mainland tiger fossils, probably due to the dwarfing of the island. It is speculated that tiger parts may have been imported from elsewhere or colonized Palawan from Borneo in the pre-Holocene epoch. Late Pliocene, Pleistocene and early Holocene tiger fossils have also been unearthed in Sri Lanka, China, Japan and Sarawak.
Results from phylogeographic studies show that all extant tigers shared a common ancestor that dates from 108,000 to 72,000 years ago. The late Pleistocene and Holocene tiger potential ranges were predicted using ecological niche models based on over 500 tiger habitat records combined with bioclimate data. The resulting model shows the range of consecutive tigers during the Last Glacial Maximum, indicating gene flow among mainland Asian tiger populations. The Caspian tiger population was probably directly linked to the Bengal tiger population
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