Keefe T.
White tiger (Panthera tigris)
This photograph was taken at Singapore Zoological Gardens, the home of a female and male white tiger pair. The White Tiger is neither a subspecies in its own right, nor an albino form of a "normal" tiger. Instead, it is a rare form of a Bengal Tiger that possesses a specific gene (autosomal recessive trait), giving it a lighter appearance. They live in the grasslands and forests of South-east Asia and in various parts of India.
Unfortunately, as beautiful and majestic as these creatures are, their existence are in dire straits. "Records dating back at least four centuries indicate that wild white tigers once prowled freely in the forests of India. Some were shot, others were captured and sent to royal menageries and still others remained in the jungles to perpetuate their lineage. The last known specimen in the wild was shot dead in 1958, leaving behind only the captive breeding population. Trophy hunting, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation drove the rest to extinction."... "Almost all of the white Bengals alive today are descended from a solitary male cub that was captured in 1951. Deliberate inbreeding has maintained the animals’ recessive coloration but it also has led inevitably to a whole range of health problems."
More information about this species can be found at:
White tiger (Panthera tigris)
This photograph was taken at Singapore Zoological Gardens, the home of a female and male white tiger pair. The White Tiger is neither a subspecies in its own right, nor an albino form of a "normal" tiger. Instead, it is a rare form of a Bengal Tiger that possesses a specific gene (autosomal recessive trait), giving it a lighter appearance. They live in the grasslands and forests of South-east Asia and in various parts of India.
Unfortunately, as beautiful and majestic as these creatures are, their existence are in dire straits. "Records dating back at least four centuries indicate that wild white tigers once prowled freely in the forests of India. Some were shot, others were captured and sent to royal menageries and still others remained in the jungles to perpetuate their lineage. The last known specimen in the wild was shot dead in 1958, leaving behind only the captive breeding population. Trophy hunting, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation drove the rest to extinction."... "Almost all of the white Bengals alive today are descended from a solitary male cub that was captured in 1951. Deliberate inbreeding has maintained the animals’ recessive coloration but it also has led inevitably to a whole range of health problems."
More information about this species can be found at: