|Captive Caspian tiger, Berlin Zoo, 1899| |Subspecies:||P. t.
virgata| |Panthera tigris virgata |Original distribution (in
red)| The Caspian tiger, also known as the Hyrcanian tiger, is a
critically endangered or extinct tiger subspecies that had been
recorded in the wild until the early 1970s, and used to inhabit
the sparse forest habitats and riverine corridors west and south
of the Caspian Sea, from Turkey, Iran and east through Central
Asia into the Takla Makan desert of Xinjiang, China. There are
no individuals in captivity. The body of Caspian tigers was
generally less massive than of Siberian tigers, and their
average size slightly less. In Turkestan, male tigers exceeded
200 cm (79 in) in length, though an estimated body length of 270
cm (110 in) was recorded. Females were smaller in size, normally
ranging between 160 to 180 cm (63 to 71 in). The maximum known
weight was 240 kg (530 lb). Maximum skull length in males was
297.0 to 365.8 mm (11.69 to 14.40 in), while that of females was
195.7 to 255.5 m