Panthera tigris sudanensis

The "Panthera tigris sudanensis" is a not scientifically recognised subspecies of the tiger, allegedly living in Africa. It was decribed in 1951 by Paul E. P. Deraniyagala, based on fur he saw on a Cairo bazaar. When he asked the seller for information, Deraniyagala was told that the animal was shot in Sudan. As Mazák wrote in 1980 [Mazák, V. Velké kočky a gepardi, SZN, Praha 1980, p.142] , it was either a joke or the seller felt obliged to be polite and therefore answer any question, whether with the true or a nonsense. Deraniyagala took a picture of the specimen's fur, which, when published, made the scientists say that according to the pattern of stripes it was most likely a fur of the Caspian Tiger ("Panthera tigris virgata") and that the fur must have been smuggled from Iran or Turkey. It remains interesting for the fact that at that time the Caspian Tiger was nearly extinct; and also for the fact that if a photo was enough for a scientific description, "Panthera tigris sudanensis" would now be one of the Caspian Tiger synonyms - as Mazák wrote, "the situation is half-humorous, half-ironic." [Mazák, V. Velké kočky a gepardi, SZN, Praha 1980, p.142]

References and external links

* www.vesmir.cz/clanekPDF.php3?CID=1846&YID=1868 A reprint of Mazák's description of the "subspecies", PDF in Czech
* [http://www.green-kp.org/forum/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=18 A page about tigers, including "P. t. sudanensis", in Chinese]