Darrellh2000
Mmmm looks tasty
but Mum told me I musn't eat in the bath!
The handsome fellow made it into Explore - Jul 25, 2009 #193 - Thank you ;0)
Very rarely, the Bengal Tiger produces white specimens. The earliest recordings of sightings of white tigers date from the mid 16th century, but only a dozen sightings have been noted in the last 100 years. The last wild white tiger was sighted in 1951! White tigers are neither a separate sub species nor albino, but instead have reduced pigmentation. White tigers are produced when two carriers of the recessive gene, who may not necessarily be white themselves, breed. This condition is known as leucism.
All tigers are now strictly protected and are the most endangered of all the big cats; having no predators except for man. Population numbers have decreased dramatically due to habitat destruction and large scale poaching. Tigers are an umbrella species, meaning that in order to save tigers from extinction we must commit to save their habitat. There are now more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild and a recent census of the Bengal Tiger, undertaken by the Wildlife Institute for India, has estimated that there are only 1,300-1,500 left in India; that is less than half the population previously estimated in the 2001-2002 census.
Mmmm looks tasty
but Mum told me I musn't eat in the bath!
The handsome fellow made it into Explore - Jul 25, 2009 #193 - Thank you ;0)
Very rarely, the Bengal Tiger produces white specimens. The earliest recordings of sightings of white tigers date from the mid 16th century, but only a dozen sightings have been noted in the last 100 years. The last wild white tiger was sighted in 1951! White tigers are neither a separate sub species nor albino, but instead have reduced pigmentation. White tigers are produced when two carriers of the recessive gene, who may not necessarily be white themselves, breed. This condition is known as leucism.
All tigers are now strictly protected and are the most endangered of all the big cats; having no predators except for man. Population numbers have decreased dramatically due to habitat destruction and large scale poaching. Tigers are an umbrella species, meaning that in order to save tigers from extinction we must commit to save their habitat. There are now more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild and a recent census of the Bengal Tiger, undertaken by the Wildlife Institute for India, has estimated that there are only 1,300-1,500 left in India; that is less than half the population previously estimated in the 2001-2002 census.