Caspian tiger

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) was a tiger population in the Middle East and Central Asia.[5] Until the end of the 20th century, it inhabited sparse forests and riverine corridors in the region from eastern Turkey, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, west and south of the Caspian Sea in Iran through Central Asia to Xinjiang in western China.[1][2] Results of phylogeographic analysis indicate that the Caspian and Siberian tiger populations shared a common continuous geographic distribution until the early 19th century, that became fragmented due to human influence.[6]

The Caspian tiger was described as being intermediate in size between Siberian and Bengal tigers.[7][4][8] It was also called Hyrcanian tiger, Turanian tiger,[2] and Babre Mazandaran (Persian: ببرِ مازندران‬‎, Tiger of Mazandaran), depending on the region of its occurrence.[7][9]