7 Facts About White Tigers
White tigers have been enchanting people for decades, but these fascinating creatures were not created naturally, they are result of a recessive gene product.
Their appearance was due to genetic modification that prevented red and yellow pigments, which means that their fur is white, instead of standard orange.
White tigers are usually Bengal tigers
White tigers are colored (mutated) version of Bengal tigers (sometimes of Amur tigers). They can be achieved only if both parents have the recessive gene for white color.In nature are very rare but they can be found in many zoos. It is believed that the first white tiger was found 1951.
Hundreds of white tigers
In zoos lives several hundred of white tigers. There are a lot of them because people trying mate white tigers mutually to influence the genes and increase the chances of the birth of new white tigers.
Some people consider it as a new kind of tigers. Today, all white tigers are descendants of countless generations of crossing to get a double recessive gene; a gene that gives a white color to tiger fur.
They are larger and stronger than normal tigers
White tigers are usually larger than normal tigers; grow faster and earlier reach maturity. Also, they are much more muscular and stronger, and lot more aggressive. Because of its color and size they are an attraction in zoos. Despite its unusual coloring, their size can be an advantage in the wild.
However, almost all white tigers have strabismus (crossed eyes), even when it is not noticeable at first glance, and they suffer from a series of health problems, because their parents are usually realtives (often brother and sister). In addition, they live very shortly, up to 10 years, while normal tigers live up to 25 years in captivity. They also often suffer from club feet, cleft palates, spinal deformities and defective organs.
Siberian tiger can not be white
White Tiger may be only Bengal tiger or Amur tiger, while in Siberian tiger is no a gene that carries the white fur. White tigers in nature are born one in 10,000 cases. Tigers are the largest cats and are loners who never live in groups.
“All white” tiger once in 100.000 cases
Their stripes are like human fingerprints – there is no two of the same pattern anywhere in the world. Tiger without stripes is born once in 100-000 cases. There is only 10 “all white” tigers in the world, and most famous is Fareeda, born in 2009. It is completely “normal” and without health problems; for now.
The creation of white tiger
Reva Maharadza Martand Singh first noticed a male white tiger named Mohan during his visit to Jungle of Reva in India. After several months of hunting, he caught the first live specimen of white tiger. With the help of veterinary experts he unsuccessfully trying to match the white tiger for a female of white color. At the end, he succeeded in creating of a “new generation of tigers”. Over time, they spread around the world as “white tiger”.
Attacks on humans
One of the white tigers named Paris, the symbol of the zoo in the Czech town of Liberec, in 2012 attacked and injured three guards. It weighs 250 pounds, and attacked18-year-old guard and two women who care about it, and then escaped from the cage. It was later killed on street by police.
In June 2015 one white tiger escaped from the zoo in Georgia and killed one person. There have been many cases where the white tigers attacking people and statistically they are much more aggressive than normal tigers.
In 2017, two young white tigers killed their guard at the National Zoo Garden in Banefgati, Bangalore, south of India. They attacked him when he tried to lock them into the cage.
White tiger as mascot in South Korea
White tiger named Suhorang was the mascot of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018. The white tiger in South Korea has a special meaning, as it is a symbol of trust, strength and protection. The symbol of white tiger is used as a motif in Korean art, especially in painting and literature. Today, this kind of tiger in nature is protected, and the last white tiger in South Korea was seen in 1958.
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