The Caspian tiger

Panthera Tigris Virgata

The Caspian tiger is also know as the Persian tiger, Turanian tiger, Mazandaran tiger or Hyrcanian tiger.
Recent DNA-research pointed out that this subspecies is not a seperate subspecies, but a subspecies of the Siberian tiger.
The Caspian tiger was generally smaller than his brothers in the East and is now extinct (late '50s).

Caspian tigers occured closest to the West of all tigers. They lived in Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Because this subspecies occurred so close to Europe, it was this subspecies that was often used by the Romans e.g. to fight against gladiators.

They were also used as a status symbol, because the tiger signifies power, similar to the lion.