Evolution of the species
The lineage of panthers, Pantherinae, there has diverged 10.8 million years ago the common ancestor of Felidae, then there are 6.4 million years ago, the lineage of clouded leopards Neofelis and that of Panthera The oldest common ancestor of Panthera which we possess fossil is Panthera palaeosinensis, who lived from the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene. The tiger appeared before the jaguar, leopard and panther and is closely related to the snow leopard tiger and snow leopard have diverged there are two million years According to general opinion, the birthplace of the species is located in the East and Northeast Asia. The territory of the tiger would then lay on the Sunda Islands and on to the India. Fossil evidence of its presence in Japan and on the island of Borneo has also been found There are 73 000 years, the tiger brushed against extinction due to the eruptions of the volcano Toba in Borneo, which may explain the low genetic diversity of the species present
Phylogenetic tree of the genus Panthera Panthera
Panthera leo - Lion
Panthera pardus - Leopard or Panther
Panthera onca - Jaguar
Panthera tigris - Tiger
Panthera uncia - Snow leopard or ounce.
Hybrids
A couple of Ligers in a park in South Korea.
The captive breeding took place between tiger and lion. The liger is the result of cross between a lion and a tiger, the tigron that of a tiger and a lioness. The liger is generally larger than both parents while tigron is smaller. They possess physical characteristics midway between those of their father and those of their mother and are able to roar as that alone. According to the site Messybeast, the size difference between the liger and tigron is due to gene imprinting, that is to say a gene that is expressed differently according to gender 3 The Ligers tigons and females are sometimes fertile with one species from which they come. These crossings can occur only in captivity as tigers and lions are found only very little in nature Often derived from crosses forced to get a cat "extraordinary", the hybrid useless for conserving species, often suffer from problems of physical and mental health
The DOGLA would cross between a leopard and a male tiger and the Tigard cross between a tiger and a female leopard
Read Also: Different Subspecies of Tiger