Ancestral Tiger Panthera zdanskyi Skull BC-294
$475.00

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Panthera zdanskyi sp.nov. (or "Longdan Tiger") is an exciting new species of big cat which was only recently described by a team of scientists. At more than 2 million years old, it represents the oldest known tiger ever found, predating previous tiger finds by many hundreds of thousands of years. At first, this specimen (BC-294) was thought to belong to the species Panthera palaeosinensis, first described as Felis palaeosinensis by Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky in 1924 in his classic work "Jungtertiäre Carnivoren Chinas" (Palaeontologia Sinica, Peking/Beijing). With the newly published results, it was clear that (BC-294) was not similar to P. palaeosinensis, but was far more tiger-like, and may be regarded as an ancestor of the modern tiger, whereas the studies showed that P. palaeosinensis was a more basal type of big cat and not closely related to tigers. The authors dubbed the new species Panthera zdanskyi in honor of Otto Zdanskyi, who made significant contributions to the study of China's fossil carnivores. The exact age of the type specimen (BC-294) is estimated to be 2.55 - 2.16 million years old, from the early Pleistocene. The remarkably well-preserved skull of this individual, found in Longdan Gansu Province of northwestern China, serves as the holotype of the new species. It has an anterior-posterior length of 262mm and mandible length of 169mm. The distal ends of the conical-tooth upper canines were missing, although a lingual impression was visible in the matrix for the left canine. Subsequently these two upper canines have been partially restored distal from the cemental-enamel-joint (CEJ), just above the alveolar margin. The lower canines are original and show the vertical grooves typical of the genus Panthera. Please see the full article, noted above, at http://www.plosone.org

A custom metal display stand is also available below.

We are grateful to the Babiarz Institute of Paleontological Studies for the opportunity to cast this individual specimen.

View The MSNBC Article on this Specimen

Ancestral Tiger Skull Stand, S-BC-294 $35.00 Order This / View Your Cart Shown here is a typical stand having a metal base and rod with a resin cradle, coated with thin rubber to prevent scratching and damage to paint on skull. Please note that the cradle is custom made for each different specimen. Color and shape may vary from the sample shown.