Caspian tigers in the captivity around the world.

Z

Zulfu Farajli

Member
Hello everyone,

I admit I am not a huge zoo fan as many of you here. I came across this blog through my "obsession" with now-extinct Caspian tigers. And I thought this is the right place to look for some questions I am looking for. I am trying to find how many Caspian tigers are kept in zoos around the world until their extinction. I know this is too broad a question but I believe some of the guys know about this topic. By scrolling through some old threads I saw someone mentioned 6 zoos had them, but I believe there's definitely more. These are the ones I am aware of, please feel free to expand it and share your knowledge on the topic:

1) London Zoo (acquired from Afghanistan by the end of the 19th century), unfortunately, couldn't find more info

2) Berlin Zoo - at least 3 individuals? A pair transferred from Tbilisi which Matchie described the subspecies based on (Die Gartenlaube - 1897 has a nice illustration of the pair along with other tiger "forms". Also, the most famous Caspian tiger photo from 1899 depicts I believe this pair. However, there must be another male as the zoologist Ernst Schwarz describes a new subspecies (trabata) based on skin of male which lived between 1898-1910 in Berlin Zoo and originally from Ili river area.

virgata.jpg

Caspian tiger pair illustration based on Berlin specimens (Die Gartenlaube, 1897)

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Photo of the same pair (potentially) from 1899 in Berlin Zoo.

3) Hamburg zoo - where the Soraya (Caspian tigress) captured in 1955 from Iran and lived till 1960. Her video is the only video of Caspian tiger in captivity I ever came across (link -
)

4) Moscow ZOO - famous small female named Theresa lived between 1925-1942
tereza.jpg

photo of Theresa in Moscow zoo.

5) Antwerp Zoo - where supposedly first Caspian arrived in 1904. Some photos can be found in their old photo archive.

Iran? I remember reading the last caspian tigers in captivity died during Iran Revolution but never managed to find more info on this.
 
Soraya looks a lot smaller than those Siberians/Amurs, but maybe that’s just sex dimorphism?
 
FBBird said:
Soraya looks a lot smaller than those Siberians/Amurs, but maybe that’s just sex dimorphism?
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i think it is just the normal sexual dimporhism, a lot of Siberians exhibit similar difference. I think if I'd seen her (wish I had!) without knowing her provenance I'd have easily passed her off as a female Siberian.
 
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JVM said:
Fascinating news to me! I had no clue. Is there anywhere with more information on this?
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I have the Chicago Zoological Park Handbook, Giant Panda edition, from 1937 it doesn’t share much, but states they have them, there is a picture with 2 tigers
 
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Bactrian Deer said:
New They’ve been held at Brookfield. They acquired them from Russian Turkestan in the 20s-30s
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JVM said:
Fascinating news to me! I had no clue. Is there anywhere with more information on this?
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Bactrian Deer said:
have the Chicago Zoological Park Handbook, Giant Panda edition, from 1937 it doesn’t share much, but states they have them, there is a picture with 2 tiger
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In his book "Longevity of Mammals in Captivity" (2005) Weigl records that a Caspian tiger was born in Brookfield Zoo on 7th May 1935; he adds it was still living on 1st January 1948.
 
I've probably seen the Berlin photograph dozens of times but I'd never noticed the tail tuft until this morning. The artist of the illustration also depicts it. Genetics aside, the Caspian tiger was phenotypically quite distinct from the Siberian. As with any extinction it's a terrible shame they were lost.
 
Bactrian Deer said:
A side note, but, doesn’t the IUCN no longer recognize this subspecies, for more simplified taxonomy?
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Zulfu Farajli said:
Yes, now all continental tigers merged into P.t.tigris. Kinda still bugs me how Bengal and Siberian are the same.
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To be precise, Caspian was merged with Siberian several years *before* the additional (and, I agree, somewhat ridiculous) merging of all mainland subspecies, and for rather more legitimate reasons - it appears that the two formed a single widespread population until the early 19th century, with the differences between the two being the result of a morphological cline combined with genetic bottlenecking after their separation.

That said, whether it was the same subspecies as Siberian or not, the loss of the Caspian was no less a tragedy - it is very strange to consider that they extended into Ukraine as recently as the 12th century!
 
SlothBear said:
I've probably seen the Berlin photograph dozens of times but I'd never noticed the tail tuft until this morning. The artist of the illustration also depicts it. Genetics aside, the Caspian tiger was phenotypically quite distinct from the Siberian. As with any extinction, it's a terrible shame they were lost.
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Yeah as mentioned by others despite the fact that they are genetically almost identical, Caspian tigers seemingly had some features not present in Siberian tigers - long neck fur and sideburns, closer set stripes with a tendency to be brown, distinct tail rings, overall darker fur color, tuffted tail etc.
 
Zulfu Farajli said:
Yeah as mentioned by others despite the fact that they are genetically almost identical, Caspian tigers seemingly had some features not present in Siberian tigers - long neck fur and sideburns, closer set stripes with a tendency to be brown, distinct tail rings, overall darker fur color, tuffted tail etc.
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Some sources also mention a distinctly shortened 'pug' face and the famous Berlin photo specimen seems to exhibit that. But in other photos and the Hamburg film there is no apparent skull-shape difference.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
To be precise, Caspian was merged with Siberian several years *before* the additional (and, I agree, somewhat ridiculous) merging of all mainland subspecies, and for rather more legitimate reasons - it appears that the two formed a single widespread population until the early 19th century, with the differences between the two being the result of a morphological cline combined with genetic bottlenecking after their separation.

That said, whether it was the same subspecies as Siberian or not, the loss of the Caspian was no less a tragedy - it is very strange to consider that they extended into Ukraine as recently as the 12th century!
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But it may be interesting for a possible reintroduction of this animal in Central Asia / Caucasus / Middle East in the future.
The same can be said for reintroduction / management of many Lion populations in many places of Africa, with the merging of previously recognized subspecies.
 
Pertinax said:
Some sources also mention a distinctly shortened 'pug' face and the famous Berlin photo specimen seems to exhibit that. But in other photos and the Hamburg film there is no apparent skull-shape difference.
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That's a bit of a misunderstanding at the time or a translation issue. Matchie who described the pair in Berlin Zoo in 1897 mentioned that only male has this "short snout" and female lacks it. Seems later sources thought it is feature of this ssp. You can access the original text of Matchie on Wikipedia under Die Gartenlaube (1897), page 445 (in German though) - Die Tiger des Berliner Zoologischen Gartens – Wikisource
 
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