Why no tigers in westeros?

[TheMysteriousOne]

How would tigers pose a threat to the Targaryen dragons?

[mindchap]

True enough, but I think the OP was wondering why there don't seem to be extant tigers wandering about the place. Certainly, none of the Westerosi seem worried about bumping into one.

Sorry, I thought he was talking heraldry. But aside from Nymeria's gigantic wolf pack they don't really run into any predatory animals in Westeros. I think the only actual lions mentioned are the ones that were kept in cages below CR, but that was from back when Cers and Jamie were kids.

[TheMysteriousOne]

There were once mountain lions in the Westerlands but they are extinct.

[Morienthar]

Because I think Tigers are in modern terms seen as exclusively Asian i.e something of the east.

[naik2902]

then we would have got another house called House Tigerian.

[BondJamesBond]

How would tigers pose a threat to the Targaryen dragons?

I think OP just meant in terms of coolness, which is subjective, so I don't think they would.

[BaseBornBastard]

then we would have got another house called House Tigerian.

House Tigerian

Words: They're Grrrreat!

[ARYa_Nym]

I'd rather be a tiger than a lion.

They have some other strange creatures like lizard lions. Whatever that is. Maybe it's like an alligator but something else.

SPOILER: Someone in the D&E books had a cat nickname but I don't remember who it was or if he made it his personal sigil. It was suggested in a foreshadowing thread once that no one is worthy to have the cat as their representative, lol.

[Barty]

In the Real World ™ lions are only to be found in Africa if I am not mistaken, while Tigers only occur naturally in Asia.

I don't know that there is need of any additional justification beyond geographical availability.

Actually Lions can be found in Asia as well. They are called Asiatic lions. India, for example, is a country where one can find both lions and tigers.

[thecryptile]

I think the Lannister lions are modeled on cave lions, not cougars. I base this on the presence of other Pleistocene animals such as the dire wolf and aurochs. The Lannister lion as depicted in the back of the books clearly has a mane, so it would have to be real lion instead of a cougar.

[Morienthar]

Actually Lions can be found in Asia as well. They are called Asiatic lions. India, for example, is a country where one can find both lions and tigers.

Yep. Asiatic Lions are generally smaller than their African cousins though.

[Free Northman]

Certainly from a geograhpical point of view tigers should have been present in southern Westeros. They occur in the Volantis region, and prior to 12000 years ago this region was connected to southern Westeros by the Arm of Dorne, so tigers could easily have spread to the South through natural migration prior to the Hammer of the Waters.

[joluoto]

1. Lions appear on Medieval heraldry

2. Lions lived closer to Europe than tigers. The now extinct Barbary Lion in North Africa, and the Asiatic Lion used to spread all the way to Syria and Eastern Turkey.

3. There has been lions in Europe. The Cave Lion lived in Europe during the Ice Ages, and there is fossil proof of lions in the Balkans in ancient times (bronze age and early ion age), which probably is why the lion turn up in Greek mythology