White tiger

A white tiger

White tigers are a color morph of any subspecies of tiger whose fur is white or almost white, though it is not a separate subspecies. This coloration is caused by a recessive gene.

Contents

Color comparison

Compared to orange tigers without the white gene, white tigers tend to be larger both at birth and at full adult size.[1] This may have given them an advantage in the wild despite their unusual coloration. Heterozygous orange tigers also tend to be larger than other orange tigers. Kailash Sankhala, the director of the New Delhi Zoo in the 1960s, said "one of the functions of the white gene may have been to keep a size gene in the population, in case it's ever needed."[2]

Dark-striped white individuals are well-documented in the Bengal Tiger subspecies, also known as the Royal Bengal or Indian tiger, (Panthera tigris tigris or P. t. bengalensis), and may also have occurred in captive Siberian Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), as well as having been reported historically in several other subspecies. White pelage is most closely associated with the Bengal, or Indian subspecies. Currently, several hundred white tigers are in captivity worldwide with about 100 of them in India, and their numbers are on the increase. The modern population includes both pure Bengals and hybrid Bengal–Siberians, but it is unclear whether the recessive gene for white came only from Bengals, or from any of the Siberian ancestors as well.

The unusual coloration of white tigers has made them popular in zoos and entertainment that showcases exotic animals. The magicians Siegfried & Roy are famous for having bred and trained two white tigers for their performances, referring to them as "royal white tigers", perhaps from the white tiger's association with the Maharaja of Rewa. The exotic tiger performance trio of Ron Holiday, Joy Holiday and Chuck Lizza—subjects of the HBO documentary film Cat Dancers—worked with a white tiger which ended up killing two of them.

White tigers in the wild

Two white Bengals at the Singapore Zoo.
White tiger sleeping at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana

In Rewa, hunters' diaries recorded 9 white tigers in the fifty years prior to 1960. The Journal of The Bombay Natural History Society reported 17 white tigers shot between 1907 and 1933. E.P. Gee collected accounts of 35 white tigers from the wild up to 1959, with still more uncounted from Assam where he had his tea plantation, although Assam, with its humid jungles, was considered a likelier haunt for black tigers by Gee. Some white tigers in the wild had reddish stripes, and were known as "red tigers." The Boga-bagh, or "white tiger," Tea Estate in upper Assam, was named that after two white tigers were shot there in the early 1900s. Arthur Locke writing in "The Tigers Of Trengganu" (1954) mentions white tigers.

In some regions, the animal is part of local tradition. In China, it was revered as the god of the West, Baihu (Byakko in Japan and Baek-ho in Korea), associated with autumn and metal. In South Korea, a white tiger is represented on the taegeuk emblem on the flag – the white tiger symbolising evil, opposite the green dragon for good. In Indian superstition, the white tiger was the incarnation of a Hindu deity, and anyone who killed it would die within a year. Sumatran and Javan royalty claimed descent from white tigers, and the animals were regarded as the reincarnations of royalty. In Java, the white tiger was associated with the vanished Hindu kingdoms and with ghosts and spirits. It was also the icon guardian of the seventeenth century court. White tigers with dark stripes were recorded in the wild in India during the Mughal Empire (1556–1605). A painting from 1590 of Akbar hunting near Gwalior depicts four tigers, two of which appear white.[3] As many as 17 instances of white tigers were recorded in India between 1907 and 1933 in several separate locations: Orissa, Bilaspur, Sohagpur and Rewa. On January 22, 1939, the Prime Minister of Nepal shot a white tiger at Barda camp in Terai, Nepal. The last observed wild white tiger was shot in 1958, and the mutation is believed to be extinct in the wild.[4] There have been rumors of white tigers in the wild in India since then, but none have been considered credible. It has been suggested from the casual way that Jim Corbett makes reference to a white tigress, which he filmed with two orange cubs, in his "Man-Eaters of Kumaon"[5] that white tigers were nothing out of the ordinary to him. Corbett's black and white film footage is probably the only film in existence of a white tiger in the wild. It illustrates again that white tigers survived and reproduced in the wild. The film was used in a National Geographic docu-drama "Man-eaters of India", about Corbett's life, based on his 1957 book by the same title. One theory of white tigers holds that they were symptomatic of inbreeding as a consequence of over hunting and habitat loss, as tiger populations became isolated. In 1965, there was a chair upholstered with a white tiger skin in the "India collection" of Marjorie Merriweather Post, at her Hillwood estate in Washington D.C., which is now operated as a museum. A color photograph of this item appeared in the November 5, 1965 issue of Life magazine.[6] In the October 1975 issue of National Geographic, there is a photograph of the minister of defense for the United Arab Emirates with a stuffed white tiger in his office.[7] The actor Cesar Romero owned a white tiger skin.

An article appeared in the Miscellaneous Notes of the Journal Of The Bombay Natural History Society on November 15, 1909, which reported that a white tigress was shot in the Mulin Sub-Division Forest of the Dhenkanal State in Orissa. The report originally appeared in the Indian Forester in May 1909, and was made by Mr. Bavis Singh, Forest Officer. The ground colour of the white tigress was described as pure white and the stripes as deep reddish-black. It was shot over a buffalo kill and "was in good condition not showing any signs of disease." Col. F.T. Pollock wrote in Wild Sports of Burma and Assam, "Occasionally white tigers are met with. I saw a magnificent skin of one at Edwin Wards in Wimpole Street, and Mr. Shadwall, Assistant Commissioner in Cossyah and Jynteah Hills, also has two skins quite white." Mr. Lydekker wrote in Game Animals of India (1907) about five more white tiger skins: "A white tiger was exhibited alive at Exeter Change about 1820; a second was killed in Poona about 1892; in March 1899, a white tiger was shot in Upper Assam and the skin sent to Calcutta, where a fourth specimen was received about the same time. The Maharaja of Kuch-Behar also possesses a white tiger-skin."[8] The white tiger exhibited at Exeter Change in London in 1820 was the first white tiger in Europe.

S.H. Prater wrote in The book of Indian Animals (1948) that "White or partially white tigers are not uncommon in some of the dry open jungles of central India."[9] It is a myth that white tigers did not thrive in the wild. India planned to reintroduce captive-bred white tigers to the wild to a special reserve near Rewa.[4] In the wild, white tigers reproduced and bred for generations. A.A. Dunbar Brander wrote in Wild animals in central India (1923) that "White tigers occasionally occur. There is a regular breed of these animals in the neighborhood of Amarkantak at the junction of the Rewa state and the Mandla and Bilaspur districts. When I was last in Mandla in 1919, a white tigress and two three parts grown white cubs existed. In 1915, a male was trapped by the Rewa state and confined. An excellent description of the animal, by Mr. Scott of the Indian police, has been published in Vol. XXVII No. 47 of the Bombay Natural History Society's journal."[10]

The previously mentioned article from The Journal Of The Bombay Natural History Society "Miscellaneous Notes: No. 1-A White tiger in captivity (with a photo)" states that "The white tiger in captivity in Rewa was caught in December 1915 in the jungles of the State near Sohagpur. He was about two years of age at the time. There were two more white tigers in Southern Rewa related to this tiger but it was believed that the mother of this animal was not white... A white tiger was killed by a Sardar in Sohargpur Tahasil, Southern Rewa, about 10 or 12 years ago. Two other tigers appeared in the beat near Shahdol and Annuppur, B.N.Ry., but His late Highness' orders were that these should not be shot. The one at Annuppur (Bhilam Dungari Jungle) was said to be the brother of the one in captivity. These white tigers roam in the neighboring British Districts of the Central Provinces and seem to be living in the Maikal ranges of mountains." There is ample evidence that white tigers survived as adults in the wild.[11][3] There were reports of white tigers from Burma and the Jynteah Hills of Meghalaya made by Pollock in the 1900s. Between 1892 and 1922, white tigers were shot in Poona, Upper Assam, Orissa, Balispur, and Cooch Behar. White tigers were shot in different regions in the 1920s and 1930s. Fifteen were shot in Bihar in this same time period. Trophies are on display in the Calcutta Museum and at Mica Camp, Tisri, in Bihar. There are more records of white tigers in Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game.

Victor H. Cahalane reported white tigers in northern China in 1943: "...north China has produced a number of albinos, with the inevitable faint brown stripe. Very rare melanistic (black) tigers are known."[12] However, white tigers are not albinos. These tigers were white individuals of the Amur tiger subspecies (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Siberian tiger. White tigers were reported in northern China and Korea.[13][14] White tigers have cultural significance in both countries. They are also part of the folklore on Sumatra and Java.

Jim Corbett filmed a white tigress in the wild which had two orange cubs. This film footage was used in the 1984 National Geographic movie Man Eaters Of India, which is based on Jim Corbett's 1957 book by the same title. This is further proof that white tigers survived and reproduced in the wild. The website of the Bandhavgarh National Park, in the former princely state of Rewa, in Madhya Pradesh, features pictures of white tigers, and states "The forests of Bandhavgarh are the white tiger jungles of yesteryears." Today, there are 46 to 52 orange tigers living in Bandhavgarh, the largest population of tigers in any national park in India.[15]

White Siberian Tigers

White Siberian Tiger at Safari Niagara, Ontario, Canada

The existence of pure white Siberian tigers has not been scientifically proven, despite occasional reports of sightings of white tigers in the regions where wild Siberian tigers live. It is quite possible that the gene for white coating does not exist in the Siberian tiger population, since no pure white Siberian tigers have been born in captivity even though the Siberian tiger has been extensively bred during the last few decades. The wild Siberian tiger population nearly went extinct during the middle of the 20th century, so it is also possible that the Siberian tigers carrying the gene for white coating died out during this period. More research is necessary before scientists can fully understand the genetic make up of the Siberian tiger.

The famous white Siberian tigers found in captivity are actually not pure Siberian tigers. They are instead the result of Siberian tigers breeding with Bengal tigers. The gene for white coating is quite common among Bengal tigers, but the natural birth of a white Bengal tiger is still a very rare occasion in the wild, where white tigers are not bred selectively. A white tiger is caused by the occurrence of a double recessive allele in the genome. Estimations show that around one in 10,000 wild tiger births will result in a white tiger.

The white tiger is not considered a tiger subspecies, but rather a mutant variant of the existing tiger subspecies. If a pure white Siberian tiger were to be born, it would therefore not be selectively bred within the tiger conservation programs. It would, however, probably still be selectively bred outside the program in an effort to create more white Siberian tigers. Due to the popularity of white tigers, they are used to attract visitors to zoos and will hopefully help raise awareness about all tigers and their situation.

Stripeless white tigers and golden tabby tigers

A nearly stripeless tiger on display at The Mirage

An additional genetic condition can remove most of the striping of a white tiger, making the animal almost pure white. One such specimen was exhibited at Exeter Change in England in 1820, and described by Georges Cuvier as "A white variety of Tiger is sometimes seen, with the stripes very opaque, and not to be observed except in certain angles of light."[16] Naturalist Richard Lydekker said that, "a white tiger, in which the fur was of a creamy tint, with the usual stripes faintly visible in certain parts, was exhibited at the old menagerie at Exeter Change about the year 1820."[17] Hamilton Smith said, "A wholly white tiger, with the stripe-pattern visible only under reflected light, like the pattern of a white tabby cat, was exhibited in the Exeter Change Menagerie in 1820.", and John George Wood stated that, "a creamy white, with the ordinary tigerine stripes so faintly marked that they were only visible in certain lights." Edwin Henry Landseer also drew this tigress in 1824.

The modern strain of snow white tigers came from repeated brother–sister matings of Bhim and Sumita at Cincinnati Zoo. The gene involved may have come from a Siberian tiger, via their part-Siberian ancestor Tony. Continued inbreeding appears to have caused a recessive gene for stripelessness to show up. About one fourth of Bhim and Sumita's offspring were stripeless. Their striped white offspring, which have been sold to zoos around the world, may also carry the stripeless gene. Because Tony's genome is present in many white tiger pedigrees, the gene may also be present in other captive white tigers. As a result, stripeless white tigers have appeared in zoos as far afield as the Czech Republic, Spain and Mexico. Stage magicians Siegfried & Roy were the first to attempt to selectively breed tigers for stripelessness; they owned snow-white Bengal tigers taken from Cincinnati Zoo (Tsumura, Mantra, Mirage and Akbar-Kabul) and Guadalajara, Mexico (Vishnu and Jahan), as well as a stripeless Siberian tiger called Apollo.[18]

In 2004, a blue-eyed, stripeless white tiger was born in a wildlife refuge in Alicante, Spain. Its parents are normal orange Bengals. The cub was named Artico ("Arctic").

Stripeless white tigers were thought to be sterile until Siegfried & Roy's stripeless white tigress Sitarra, a daughter of Bhim and Sumita, gave birth. Another variation which came out of the white strains were unusually light-orange tigers called "golden tabby tigers". These are probably orange tigers which carry the stripeless white gene as a recessive. Some white tigers in India are very dark, between white and orange.

Genetics and albinism

A white tiger in captivity at a zoo. The presence of stripes indicates it is not a true albino.
White tigers at Singapore Zoo

A white tiger's pale coloration is caused by the presence of a recessive gene. Another genetic characteristic makes the stripes of the tiger very pale; white tigers of this type are called snow-white or "pure white". White tigers are not albinos and do not constitute a separate subspecies of their own and can breed with orange ones, although (approx.) half of the resulting offspring will be heterozygous for the recessive white gene, and their fur will be orange. The only exception would be if the orange parent was itself already a heterozygous tiger, which would give each cub a 50% chance of being either double-recessive white or heterozygous orange. If two heterozygous tigers, or heterozygotes, breed on average 25% of their offspring will be white, 50% will be heterozygous orange (white gene carriers) and 25% will be homozygous orange, with no white genes. In the 1970s a pair of heterozygous orange tigers named Sashi and Ravi produced 13 cubs in Alipore Zoo, of which 3 were white.[4] If two white tigers breed, 100% of their cubs will be homozygous white tigers. A tiger which is homozygous for the white gene may also be heterozygous or homozygous for many different genes. The question of whether a tiger is heterozygous (a heterozygote) or homozygous (a homozygote) depends on the context of which gene is being discussed. Inbreeding promotes homozygosity and has been used as a strategy to produce white tigers.

Contrary to popular belief, white tigers are not albinos: true albino tigers would have no stripes. Even the "stripeless" white tigers known today actually have very pale stripes.

Part of the confusion is due to the misidentification of the so-called chinchilla gene (for white) as an allele of the albino series (publications prior to the 1980s refer to it as an albino gene). The mutation is recessive to normal colour, which means that two orange tigers carrying the mutant gene may produce white offspring, and white tigers bred together will produce only white cubs. The stripe colour varies due to the influence and interaction of other genes.

While the inhibitor ("chinchilla") gene affects the colour of the hair shaft, there is a separate "wide-band" gene affecting the distance between the dark bands of colour on agouti hairs.[19] An orange tiger who inherits two copies of this wide-band gene becomes a golden tabby; a white who inherits two copies becomes almost or completely stripeless. Inbreeding allows the effect of recessive genes to show up, hence the ground and stripe colour variations among white tigers.

As early as 1907, naturalist Richard Lydeker doubted the existence of albino tigers.[20] However, we do have a report of true albinism: in 1922, two pink-eyed albino cubs were shot along with their mother at Mica Camp, Tisri, in the Cooch Behar district, according to Victor N. Narayan in a "Miscellaneous Note" in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. The albinos were described as sickly-looking sub-adults, with extended necks and pink eyes.

White tigers, Siamese cats, and Himalayan rabbits have enzymes in their fur which react to temperature, causing them to grow darker in the cold. A white tiger named Mohini was whiter than her relatives in the Bristol Zoo, who showed more cream tones. This may have been because she spent less time outdoors in the winter.[2] White tigers produce a mutated form of tyrosinase, an enzyme used in the production of melanin, which only functions at certain temperatures (below 98° Fahrenheit). This is why Siamese cats and Himalayan rabbits are darker on their faces, ears, legs, and tails (the colour points), where the cold penetrates more easily. This is called acromelanism, and other cats breeds derived from the Siamese, such as the Himalayan and the snowshoe cat, also exhibit the condition.[21] K.S. Sankhala, who was director of the New Delhi Zoo in the 1960s, observed that white tigers were always whiter in Rewa, even when they were born in New Delhi and returned there. "In spite of living in a dusty courtyard, they were always snow white."[4] A weakened immune system is directly linked to reduced pigmentation in white tigers.

Genetic issues

Outside of India, white tigers have been prone to crossed eyes, a condition known as strabismus, an example of which is "Clarence the cross-eyed lion",[22] due to incorrectly routed visual pathways in the brains of white tigers. When stressed or confused, all white tigers cross their eyes, according to tiger trainer Andy Goldfarb. Strabismus is associated with white tigers of mixed Bengal/Siberian ancestry. The only pure-Bengal white tiger reported to be cross-eyed was Mohini's daughter Rewati. Strabismus is directly linked to the white gene and is not a separate consequence of inbreeding.[23][24][25] The orange littermates of white tigers are not prone to strabismus. Siamese cats and albinos of every species which have been studied all exhibit the same visual pathway abnormality found in white tigers. Siamese cats are also sometimes cross-eyed, as are some albino ferrets. The visual pathway abnormality was first documented in white tigers in the brain of a white tiger called Moni after he died, although his eyes were of normal alignment. The abnormality is that there is a disruption in the optic chiasm. The examination of Moni's brain suggested the disruption is less severe in white tigers than it is in Siamese cats. Because of the visual pathway abnormality, by which some of the optic nerves are routed to the wrong side of the brain, white tigers have a problem with spatial orientation, and bump into things until they learn to compensate. Some tigers compensate by crossing their eyes. When the neurons pass from the retina to the brain and reach the optic chiasma, some cross and some do not, so that visual images are projected to the wrong hemisphere of the brain. White tigers cannot see as well as normal tigers and suffer from photophobia, like albinos.[26]

There is a 450 lbs. male cross-eyed white tiger, named Namaste, at the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hawaii, which was donated to the zoo by Las Vegas magician Dirk Arthur.[27] There is a picture of a white tiger which appears to be cross-eyed on just one side in Siegfried & Roy's book Mastering The Impossible. A white tiger, named Scarlett O'Hara, who was Tony's sister, was cross-eyed only on the right side. Scarlett was the only one of three white tigers born at Kingdoms 3, the Henry County, Georgia animal park in June 1977 to survive. Scarlett was to have undergone an operation to tighten and loosen two muscles to turn the eye straight, which is a fairly routine operation in humans. She was sent to the Grady Memorial Hospital's animal research clinic in Atlanta. Her owner, Baron Julius Von Uhl, was the lion tamer at the park, and his ophthalmologist was to perform the surgery.[28] Scarlett had an adverse reaction to the anaesthesia and died. The Atlanta Zoo veterinarian Morton Silberman said "There is always a chance of there being other genetic defects" and some of these could have effected her ability to withstand anaesthesia.[29] Tiger trainer Alan Gold said that attempts to correct crossed eyes in white tigers through surgery have been unsuccessful because the problem is not in their eyes, it's in their brain. White tigers with crossed eyes are not always born that way; they may develop the condition later in life. Ika, one of the male white tigers from Kesari's 1976 litter, was not cross-eyed as a cub. He developed strabismus later on. Rewati was also not cross-eyed as a cub. Cincinnati Zoo director Ed Maruska commented on white tigers having crossed eyes: "In 52 white tiger births, there were four cases of strabismus, all from the four white offspring of Kesari and Tony. Bhim and Sumita (siblings) were retained and all of their offspring had normal set eyes except one male from their first litter. Because strabismus is of rare occurrence and probably linked to the white coat gene, it is probable that it might be further reduced or even eliminated by selective breeding."[30] A male white tiger named Cheytan, a son of Bhim and Sumita born at the Cincinnati Zoo, died at the San Antonio Zoo in 1992 from anaesthesia complications during a root canal. It appears that white tigers also react strangely to anaesthesia. The best drug for immobilizing a tiger is CI 744, but a few tigers, white ones in particular, undergo a re-sedation effect 24–36 hours later.[31] This is due to their inability to produce normal tyrosinase, a trait they share with albinos, according to zoo veterinarian David Taylor. He treated a pair of white tigers from the Cincinnati Zoo at Fritz Wurm's safari park in Stukenbrock, Germany, for salmonella poisoning, which reacted strangely to the anaesthesia.[32]

Mohini was checked for Chédiak-Higashi syndrome in 1960, but the results were inconclusive.[33][30] This condition is similar to albino mutations and causes bluish lightening of the fur colour, crossed eyes, and prolonged bleeding after surgery. Also, in the event of an injury, the blood is slow to coagulate. This condition has been observed in domestic cats, but there has never been a case of a white tiger having Chédiak-Higashi syndrome. There has been a single case of a white tiger having central retinal degeneration, reported from the Milwaukee County Zoo, which could be related to reduced pigmentation in the eye.[30][34] The white tiger in question was a male named Mota on loan from the Cincinnati Zoo.

There is a myth, that white tigers have an 80% infant mortality rate. However, the infant mortality rate for white tigers is no higher than it is for normal orange tigers bred in captivity. Cincinnati Zoo director Ed Maruska said: "We have not experienced premature death among our white tigers. Forty-two animals born in our collection are still alive. Mohan, a large white tiger, died just short of his 20th birthday, an enviable age for a male of any subspecies, since most males live shorter captive lives. Premature deaths in other collections may be artifacts of captive environmental conditions... In 52 births we had four stillbirths, one of which was an unexplained loss. We lost two additional cubs from viral pneumonia, which is not excessive. Without data from non-inbred tiger lines, it is difficult to determine whether this number is high or low with any degree of accuracy."[30] Ed Maruska also addressed the issue of deformities: "Other than a case of hip dysplasia that occurred in a male white tiger, we have not encountered any other body deformities or any physiological or neurological disorders. Some of these reported maladies in mutant tigers in other collections may be a direct result of inbreeding or improper rearing management of tigers generally."[30]

Other genetic problems include shortened tendons of the forelegs, club foot , kidney problems, arched or crooked backbone and twisted neck. Reduced fertility and miscarriages, noted by ”tiger man” Kailash Sankhala in pure-Bengal white tigers were attributed to inbreeding depression.[4] A condition known as "star-gazing", which is associated with inbreeding in big cats, has also been reported in white tigers.[26] Some of the white tigers born to North American lines have bulldog faces with a snub nose, jutting jaw, domed head and wide-set eyes with an indentation between the eyes. However, some of these traits may be linked to poor diet rather than inbreeding.

Inbreeding and outcrossing

White tiger at the ZooParc de Beauval in France

Because of the extreme rarity of the white tiger allele in the wild,[4] the breeding pool was limited to the small number of white tigers in captivity. According to Kailash Sankhala, the last white tiger ever seen in the wild was shot in 1958.[4][35][36] Today, there is such a large number of white tigers in captivity that inbreeding is no longer necessary. A white Amur tiger may have been born at Center Hill and has given rise to a strain of white Amur tigers. The white tiger pictured on the right is at the ZooParc de Beauval in France, and came from Center Hill. A man named Robert Baudy realized that his tigers had white genes when a tiger he sold to Marwell Zoo in England developed white spots, and bred them accordingly.[37] The Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Bay has four of these white Amur tigers, descended from Robert Baudy's stock.

White tiger at the New Delhi Zoo

It has also been possible to expand the white-gene pool by outcrossing white tigers with unrelated orange tigers and then using the cubs to produce more white tigers. The white tigers Ranjit, Bharat, Priya and Bhim were all outcrossed, in some instances to more than one tiger. Bharat was bred to an unrelated orange tiger named Jack from the San Francisco Zoo and had an orange daughter named Kanchana.[38] Bharat and Priya were also bred with an unrelated orange tiger from Knoxville Zoo, and Ranjit was bred to this tiger's sister, also from Knoxville Zoo. Bhim fathered several litters with an unrelated orange tigress named Kimanthi at the Cincinnati Zoo. Ranjit had several mates at the Omaha Zoo.[39]

The last descendants of Bristol Zoo's white tigers were a group of orange tigers from outcrosses which were bought by a Pakistani senator and shipped to Pakistan. Rajiv, Pretoria Zoo's white tiger, who was born in the Cincinnati Zoo, was also outcrossed and sired at least two litters of orange cubs at Pretoria Zoo. Outcrossing is not necessarily done with the intent of producing more white cubs by resuming inbreeding further down the line.

White tiger at the Miami MetroZoo

Outcrossing is a way of bringing fresh blood into the white strain. The New Delhi Zoo loaned out white tigers to some of India's better zoos for outcrossing, and the government had to impose a whip to force zoos to return either the white tigers or their orange offspring.
Siegfried & Roy performed at least one outcross.[40] In the mid-1980s they offered to work with the Indian government in the creation of a healthier strain of white tigers. The Indian government reportedly considered the offer;[41] however, India had a moratorium on breeding white tigers after cubs were born at New Delhi Zoo with arched backs and clubbed feet, necessitating euthanasia.[41] Siegfried & Roy have bred white tigers in collaboration with the Nashville Zoo and they appeared on Larry King with white tiger cubs born at said zoo.

Popular culture

White tigers appear frequently in literature, video games, television and comic books. Such examples include the Swedish rock band Kent, which featured a white tiger on the cover of their best-selling album Vapen & ammunition in 2002. This was a tribute to the band's home town Eskilstuna, as the local zoo in town had white tigers from the Hawthorn Circus as its main attraction. The white tiger has also been featured in the video for the song "Human" by the popular American synth-rock band The Killers. White Tiger is also the name of an American glam metal band from the 1980s.

Aravind Adiga's novel, The White Tiger, won the Man Booker Prize in 2008.[42] The central character and narrator refers to himself as "The White Tiger". It was a nickname given to him as a child to denote that he was unique in the "jungle" (his hometown), that he was smarter than the others.

Games including white tigers include Zoo Tycoon and the Warcraft universe. Both the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and the Japanese Super Sentai series from which the Power Rangers series are based have used White Tiger themed mecha. The White Ranger from Power Rangers: Wild Force and its Sentai counterpart also has the powers of the White Tiger, as well as the White Tiger-themed mecha.

A trained white tiger from the Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario, Canada, was used in the Animorphs TV series. White Tigers are also seen in Heroes of Might and Magic IV, where they are a lvl 2 unit for the nature alignment. White Tiger and The Justice Friends were on Dexter's Laboratory, and a white tiger named White Blaze is frequently shown in the anime Ronin Warriors. White Tigers are featured as a wild, tamable "pet" companion in Guild Wars Factions. Finally, the popularity of white tigers has led private users to create mods or game patches for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which changes the Khajit species to possess white tiger aspects, including realistic height and body sizes in relation to the standard orange Khajit.

Other popular culture mentions include the Beast Wars character Tigatron who transformed into a white tiger, the White Tiger comic book hero and also the outstanding former member of the Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball team Darren "White Tiger" Kent. In the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, white tigers are seen fighting for the White Witch.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mills, Stephen (2004). Tiger. Firefly Books. p. 133. ISBN 978-1552979495. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leyhausen, Paul; Reed, Theodore H. (April 1971). "The white tiger: care and breeding of a genetic freak.". Smithsonian. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Mutant Big Cats". Messybeast.com. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-white.htm. Retrieved May 28, 2009. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Sankhala, Kailash (1997). Tiger ! The Story Of The Indian Tiger. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780002161244. 
  5. ↑ Corbett, Jim (1946). Man-Eaters of Kumaon. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192730183. 
  6. ↑ "Mrs. Post's Magnificent World". Life 59 (Nov 19. 5, 1965). 
  7. ↑ Putman, John J. (October 1975). "The Arab World Inc.". National Geographic: 494-533. 
  8. ↑ "Miscellaneous Notes. No. I-A White tigress in Orissa". Journal Of The Bombay Natural History Society XIX: 744. Nov. 15, 1909. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-white.htm. 
  9. ↑ Prater, S.H. (1965). The book of Indian animals (Second (revised) 1965 ed.). Bombay Natural History Society. pp. 54. 
  10. ↑ Dunbar Brander, Archibald Alexander (1982). Wild animals in central India. Natraj. 
  11. ↑ "Miscellaneous Notes: No. 1-A White tiger in captivity (with a photo)". Journal Of The Bombay Natural History Society XXVII: 744. 1921. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-white.htm. 
  12. ↑ Cahalane, Vicor H. (February 1943). "King Of Cats And His Court". National Geographic: 236. 
  13. ↑ Perry, Richard (1965). The world of the tiger. New York: Athenum. 
  14. ↑ Cherfas, Jeremy (1984). Zoo 2000. London: British Broadcasting Corp. 
  15. ↑ Garhwal Himalayan Expedition, India, Delhi. "Bandhavgarh National Park, National Park in Madhya Pradesh, National Park India, National Park Tour in Madhya Pradesh". Bandhavgarhnationalpark.com. http://bandhavgarhnationalpark.com. Retrieved May 28, 2009. 
  16. ↑ Cuvier, Georges (1832). The Animal Kingdomtthey can grow to as tall as. G & C & H Carvill. 
  17. ↑ Lydekker, Richard (1893). The Royal Natural History. Frederick Warne. 
  18. ↑ "Litter of white tigers debuts in Mexico: Zoo known for providing cats for Siegfried and Roy's Las Vegas act". July 6, 2007. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/19627911. 
  19. ↑ Robinson et al., Roy (1999). Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians. Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0750640695. 
  20. ↑ Lydekker, Richard (1907). The Game animals of India, Burma, Malaya and Tibet: Being a now and Rev. Ed. of The Great and Small Game of India, Burma and Tibet. Rowland Ward. 
  21. ↑ McCann Collier, Marjorie (1992). The Siamese Cat A Complete Owner's Manual. Barron's. pp. 39. 
  22. ↑ Geringer, Dan (July 3, 21, 1986). "Now He's The Cat's Meow". Sports Illustrated 65. 
  23. ↑ "Cross-eyed tigers". Scientific American.  229:43 August 1973
  24. ↑ Guillery, R.W.; Kaas, J.H. (22). "Genetic abnormality of the visual pathways in a "white tiger"". Science. 
  25. ↑ Bernays, M.E.; Smith, Rie. "Convergent strabismus in a white tiger". Australian Vet J. 77 (March 3, 1999). http://www.ava.com/avj/9903/99030152.pdf. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Gorham, Mary Ellen, DVM. Genetic defects do little to mar beauty of India's rare white tigers. March 1986
  27. ↑ "Hilo Attractions". http://gohawaii.about.com/od/bigisland/ss/hilo_attraction_9.htm. 
  28. ↑ Taylor, Ron (Jan. 18, 1978). "Scarlett Sets Sights On Grady". The Atlanta Journal: p. 2A. 
  29. ↑ Shealy, Larry (Fri. Jan. 20, 1978). "Scarlett's Beauty May Have Been Cub's Fatal Flaw". The Atlanta Journal: pp. 1A, 19A. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 Maruska, Edward J., "White Tiger Phantom Or Freak?", Chapter 33, Part IV White Tiger Politics, Tigers Of The World The Biology, Biopolitics, Management, And Conservation Of An Endangered Species, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey USA 1987
  31. ↑ Bush, Mitchell; Phillips, Lindsay G.; & Montali, Richard J.; Clinical Management of Captive Tigers, Tigers Of The World, Biopolitics, Management, And Conservation Of An Endangered Species, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey USA 1987 pg. 186
  32. ↑ Taylor, David (1991). Vet On The Wild Side. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312055295. 
  33. ↑ Berrier, H.H.; Robinson, F.R., Reed, T.H., & Gray, C.W. (1975). "The white tiger enigma". Veterinary Medicine/Small Animal Clinician: 467-472. 
  34. ↑ Beehler, B.A.; Moore, C.P., Picket, J.P., (1984). "Central retinal degeneration in a white Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)". Proc. Am. Assoc. Zoo Vet.. 
  35. ↑ Sunquist, Fiona (December 2000). "The Secret Of The White Tiger". National Geographic World: 26. 
  36. ↑ Iverson, S.J. (1982). "Breeding White Tigers". Zoogoer. 11:5-12
  37. ↑ "Mutant Big Cats-White Tiger". p. 2. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-white2.htm. 
  38. ↑ Tongren, Sally (1985). To keep them alive. New York: Dembner Books: Distributed by Norton. 
  39. ↑ Iverson, S.J. (1982). "Breeding white tigers". Zoogoer.  11:5-12;
  40. ↑ Fischbacher, Siegfried; Horn, Roy Uwe Ludwig, & Tapert, Annette (1992). Siegfried and Roy: mastering the impossible. New York: W. Morrow. 
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Rai, Usha (March 15). "Will they outlast this century?". Times Of India (New Delhi). 
  42. ↑ "The White Tiger: Man Booker Prize". http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/books/358. 

Further reading

External links