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You know how conservationists are always going on about this species or that, in danger of extinction?

They do this because extinction does happen, for example, with the tigers of Central Asia in the mid-20th century, though they weren’t officially declared extinct until 2003.

This subspecies is no more —

— BUT it might be possible to restore tigers to the Trans-Caspian region, thanks to a very close genetic connection between them and another tiger subspecies that’s endangered but still extant:

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“Never mind tigers — save ME!” — Kulan

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🐯🐅🐯

Endangered Tigers has more on this, and in follow-up, a male and female reportedly were released last year, with four more tiger releases planned for 2025.

From the stories, it sounds as though the preserve is somewhere in the Ili River/Lake Balkash region, which looks like this —

— and apparently needs conservation, too.

If you’re in the mood for some jargon and detailed information, here is a paper that examines the link between Caspian and Amur (a/k/a Siberian) tigers.

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A little lagniappe:

Here is a video from six years ago about the preserve:

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Featured image: Memorial to Caspian tigers in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, by Alexandre.ROSA/Shutterstock

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