Rewilding the Caspian Tiger

Rewilding the Caspian Tiger

by Michael
(London, UK)

Siberian tiger cub (is it purebred?) - photo by flickkerphotos (Flickr)

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Siberian tiger cub (is it purebred?) - photo by flickkerphotos (Flickr)

Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important

Apparently the last tiger in Kazakhastan was killed by a poacher 40 years ago. Kazakhstan is south of Russia. It is a large country, the world's ninth largest, and it has a small population of about 19 million. Plenty of space for the tiger, then?

map of area of rewilding of the Caspian tiger
Blank map from Wikimedia Commons.

The tigers of Kazakhstan would appear to be the Caspian tiger and are also called the "Turan tiger". People aren't sure when the Caspian tiger became extinct but it could have been about 40 years ago.

The idea is to reintroduce the tiger into its old habit in Kazakhastan. This is possible because the Caspian tiger, although extinct is the same as the Siberian tiger, also called the Amur tiger.

The Amur tiger is found in the far east of Russia on either side of Vladivostok.

Siberian tigers will be trapped and shipped to Kazakhstan to populate a large reserve that is intended to be 400,000 hectares, near the Ili river south of Balkhash (Balqash) lake (see map above).

One obstacle to this plan is the infertility of the Siberian tiger. Although its population is about 400, in terms of reproductive ability it is nearer, 14 individuals. The genetic pool of the Siberian tiger in Siberia is too small to sustain its population of 400.

On that basis how will, say, half a dozen taken from Siberian and imported into Kazakhstan get on? It is impossible to see how they can survive as an isolated "island" population because they won't be able to breed. I can't see it working unless I am missing something.

Inbreeding makes the wildcats infertile (see also inbreeding of wildcats). The Florida panther is a case in point and cheetahs have a small gene pool resulting is semen that is much worse than that of the domestic cat.

Michael Avatar

Rewilding the Caspian Tiger to Tiger


Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Ovie says:

    When will the tigers be introduced to Kazakhastan

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *