Tigers Are Terrifying

Text and images by Kit Harper

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This band does not like tigers.

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest cat species, most recognizable for its pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard, jaguar, and snow leopard.

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Tiger populations once ranged widely across Asia, from the Black Sea in the west, to the Indian Ocean in the south, and from Kolyma to Sumatra in the east. Over the past 100 years, the species has lost 93% of its historic range, and has been extirpated from Western and Central Asia, from the islands of Java and Bali, and from large areas of Southeast, South, and East Asia.

Evolution

The tiger's closest living relatives were previously thought to be the Panthera species lion, leopard and jaguar. Results of genetic analysis indicate that about 2.88 million years ago, the tiger and the snow leopard diverged from the other Panthera species, and that both may be more closely related to each other than to the lion, leopard and jaguar.[13][14] Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that all living tigers had a common ancestor 72,000–108,000 years ago.

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