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Panthera tigris
Taken in Zoo in Bratislava. The ONLY way to produce a tiger or lion with a white coat is through inbreeding brother to sister or father to daughter; generation after generation after generation. The kind of severe inbreeding that is required to produce the mutation of a white coat also causes a number of other defects in these big cats. The same gene that causes the white coat causes the optic nerve to be wired to the wrong side of the brain, thus all white tigers are cross eyed, even if their eyes look normal. They also often suffer from club feet, cleft palates, spinal deformities and defective organs. (source: Big Cat Rescue) For information on white tigers, please visit the following links. http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/iss... http://bigcatrescue.org/images/brochures...
8 Comments
Good shoot(:
White tigers are adorable creatures but I would never wunt to have 1 as a pet! Lol
Different color mutuation is a big hit, and big attraction. I have also white lion pictures from this zoo, will post later. Can you believe that this zoo does NOT have a "normal" color tiger or lion? I love how these white tigers/lions look, but if something's wrong, then it's wrong. I want to raise awareness among my friends about this as I know not everybody is aware of the facts about white tigers.
Unfortunately, you are not alone, Maria. Even some accredited zoos try to get tourists to come by falsely advertising that they have the white tiger species when it is not a separate species at all but simply the result of a recessive gene. Because of this, many people believe it.
@bayucca: I was glad to be able to do such a close shot, so that you actually see the eyes. I learned only recently these facts about white tigers/lions. Until now I thought white tigers are "normal" species.
@Maria: Thank you for the additional link.
@Belinda: Thank you for the nice sum up info!
Thank you, Maria, for sharing the information on the inbreeding of white tigers. In the United States, most of the white tigers are inbred among Bengal tigers; there is quite a business in this and, although the healthy ones are stunning animals, there is a lot of misery behind it all. Here is another website for those interested in this business in the USA: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/20...
White coats happen naturally in approximately 1 out of every 10,000 Bengal Tigers. Siberian Tigers on the other hand do not carry the white color gene. Any white Siberian Tigers we see in zoos are actually a cross between a regular Siberian and a Bengal with the white gene.
I immediately thought that this one has some strange eyes! Very interesting info!