Massive Tigers Could Once Again Roam Central Asia

[Hum]

With help from a subspecies that's a near dead-ringer genetically, the extinct Caspian tiger could once again inhabit Central Asia.

In a study published in the journal Biological Conservation, researchers from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and State University of New York (SUNY) say they have found two spots in Kazakhstan to reintroduce the extinct enormous cat.

 

Well, sort of. The scientists' approach hinges not on some sort of cloning scheme but on using Amur tigers (also known as Siberian tigers) to accomplish the feat. The animals, thanks to information gleaned from DNA analysis in recent years, are genetically almost identical to the Caspian cats and under the plan would function as a kind of stand-in.

 

Caspian tigers, extinct for close to 50 years, once roamed Central Asia, from the Caspian Sea to northwestern China, before struggles that included loss of habitat during Soviet-era land development robbed them of their prey and their survival. They were truly big big cats - about 10 feet long and weighing up to 500 pounds.

 

If the WWF and SUNY plan one day comes to fruition, big cats could again stalk the Caspian's old haunts.

 

"The idea of tiger reintroduction in Central Asia using the Amur tiger from the Russian Far East as an 'analog' species has been discussed for nearly 10 years," explained study co-author Mikhail Paltsyn, of SUNY, in a statement. "It met with considerable support from the government of Kazakhstan in 2010 during the Global Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia."

 

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[TrevorLahey]

is it necessary to do this?

[nekrosoft13]

why stop at Caspian tigers, bring back the Saber-toothed !!

[Pam14160]

Just what people need. . .

[DocM]

There's also talk of bringing back the auroch, an enormous wild bovine which went extinct in the 1600's. Often seen in cave paintings.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

This sounds awfully like the plot of a well-known movie....

 

...maybe this one should be called Purrassic Park