White tigers

Categories: Animals |

The white tiger is a recessive mutant of the Bengal tiger, which is occasionally found in the wild in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially in the erstwhile Rewa state. Compared to regular-colored tigers without the white gene, white tigers tend to be larger than normal, both at birth and as adults. We present to your attention a selection of photographs of beautiful white tigers.

White tigers
White tigers

Kailash Sankhala, director of the New Delhi Zoo in the 1960s, said that "perhaps one of the functions of the white gene is to maintain a size gene in the population, if such a thing is ever needed, of course."

White tigers

In the Bengal tiger subspecies, there were also individuals with black stripes. The same phenomenon can be found among individuals of the Amur tiger, and in history there have been cases when such individuals appeared in other species.

White tigers

There are now several hundred white tigers in zoos around the world, about a hundred of them in India.

White tigers

Nevertheless, their numbers are increasing.

White tigers

The current population of white tigers includes pure Bengal and hybrid Bengal-Amur tigers, but it is not clear whether the recessive white gene came only from Bengal tigers, or whether the ancestors of Amur tigers also participated in this.

White tigers

The white tiger is born as a result of the homozygous phenomenon of a recessive allelomorph in the genome.

White tigers

In the wild, it is estimated that every 15,000 Bengal tiger is born white.

White tigers

The existence of white Siberian tigers is not scientifically documented, despite occasional anecdotal evidence of sightings in regions where Siberian tigers live.

White tigers

It is possible that the white mutation does not exist in the nature of Amur tiger populations: not a single white Amur tiger has yet been born in captivity, despite the fact that these subspecies are actively used for breeding (with a large percentage of outbreeding between different hereditary lines of Amur tigers in order to preserve genetics) .

White tigers

The recessive allelomorph periodically becomes homozygous during such crossing, and in this case, a white baby may be born to “ordinary” parents, but so far there is no evidence of this.

White tigers

The famous white Siberian tigers in captivity are not actually purebred.

White tigers

This is the result of crossing Amur tigers with Bengal tigers.

White tigers

The white coat gene is quite common among Bengal tigers, but the natural birth of a white Bengal tiger in captivity is still a rare occurrence.

White tigers

The white tiger is not considered a subspecies of the tiger, rather it is a mutational variant of the existing subspecies of the tiger.

White tigers

If a purebred Amur white tiger is ever born, it will not be selectively bred as part of conservation programs.

White tigers

Although, most likely, it will still be selectively crossed so that more white Amur tigers will be born.

White tigers

Due to their popularity, white tigers are always the stars of zoos.

White tigers
White tigers
White tigers
White tigers
White tigers
White tigers
White tigers
     

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