I have seen this image, along with two others of the same individual and a third of what may be a separate individual, floating around on the internet in the past.
This black and white image I haven't seen before -it is much sharper than the more frequently seen colour version- I think this is the original and the blurred coloured one may be artificially created?
This black and white image I haven't seen before -it is much sharper than the more frequently seen colour version- I think this is the original and the blurred coloured one may be artificially created?
Indeed - I was about to note that I suspect all colour photographs of the Caspian Tiger in circulation are artificially created, with the exception of the photograph of the 1955 animal.
Having found the Hagebeck photo referred to above, thought I would post it here:
I never knew there was a Caspian in captivity at such a comparatively recent date. Are there any details of her capture/origin or how she came into Hamburg Zoo?
I never knew there was a Caspian in captivity at such a comparatively recent date. Are there any details of her capture/origin or how she came into Hamburg Zoo?
As far as I can recall, she was caught in Iran and sent to Hamburg along with an import of Onagers.
If you want a *really* tantalising but heartbreaking list of recent collections to hold an extinct cat taxon, the following collections held the Javan Tiger until pretty recently - even more frustrating if you subscribe to the growing sentiment that the taxon merits full specific status.
Koln Zoo held Panthera tigris sondaica until 1969.
Zagreb Zoo held Panthera tigris sondaica until 1967.
Budapest Zoo held Panthera tigris sondaica until 1971.
Tilburg Dierenpark held Panthera tigris sondaica until 1967
I never knew there was a Caspian in captivity at such a comparatively recent date. Are there any details of her capture/origin or how she came into Hamburg Zoo?
Looked at Zootierliste and there is mentioned that it was a male which lived at Hamburg from 1955 till 1960. It was captured in Persia and came to Hamburg together with the Oranger-transport.
I believe that ZTL is incorrect as regards the gender of this animal - I have just had a read of the German text below the black and white photo I initially posted of the animal, and after a bit of slow translation work using my rusty ability with the language I found it said the following:
A zoological document of rare value: probably the last photo of a Caspian tiger. It was a young female who arrived at a zoo about thirty years ago. On closer viewing, the deviations from the appearance of other tiger varieties are significant. The "pug head" of this kind was held by a famous zoologist initially to be an individual malformation
You're a lucky bastard shame that you presumably did not get any photographs of the animals in question, as (amazingly, considering how recently we are talking) I am not aware of any proven photographs of any of the individuals at the zoos I mentioned
