White Tiger

Why is in news? National Zoological Park celebrates the first birthday ofwhite tigress SITA's twin cubs, Avni and Vyom

At present National Zoological Park have 12 numbers of tigers of 02 varieties, and among these there are 7 normal coloured Royal Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) and 5 White Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris color_mutation ).

White tigers in India are nothing but a pigmentation variant of the Bengal tiger.

The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the Bengal tigers, Siberian Tiger and man-made hybrids between the two

They are reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha in the Sundarbans region and especially in the former State of Rewa.

Such a tiger has the black stripes typical of the Bengal tiger, but carries a white or near-white coat.

In India, white tigers are predominantly found in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.

In 2016, world’s first White Tiger Safari was inaugurated at Mukundpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.

The first white tiger in Madhya Pradesh’s was spotted in Vindhya region in 1915. However, the rare breed of the big cat spotted for the first time died in 1920.

In 1951, a white tiger cub named Mohan was captured by Rewa Maharaja Martand Singh.

Later the tiger cub became the progenitor of all known white tigers in the world after the Maharaja arranged for its breeding.

They have been reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar.

These tigers have white fur because of the lack of the pigment pheomelanin, which is found in Bengal tigers with orange colour fur.

Features: White tigers have pink noses, white-to-cream coloured fur, and black, grey or chocolate-coloured stripes. Their eyes are usually blue, but may be green or amber.