Bali tiger | |
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A Bali tiger killed by M. Zanveld in the 1920s | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Felidae |
Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
Genus: | Panthera |
Species: | P. tigris |
Subspecies: | P. t. sondaica |
Population: | †Bali tiger |
Historical range of Bali tiger |
The Bali tiger was a Panthera tigris sondaica population on the Indonesian island of Bali[2] which has been extinct since the 1950s.[1] It was formerly regarded as a distinct tiger subspecies with the scientific name Panthera tigris balica, which had been assessed as extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2008.[1] In 2017, felid taxonomy was revised, and it was subordinated to P. t. sondaica, which also includes the still surviving Sumatran tiger.[2]
Results of a mitochondrial DNA analysis of 23 tiger samples from museum collections indicate that tigers colonized the Sunda Islands during the last glacial period 11,000–12,000 years ago.[3]
In Bali, the last tigers were recorded in the late 1930s. A few individuals likely survived into the 1940s and possibly 1950s. The population was hunted to extirpation and its natural habitat converted for human use.[4]
Balinese names for the tiger are harimau Bali and samong.[5]