The Tiger

As a consequence of the spontaneous genetic mutation of a recessive gene in a normal tiger in the wild, the offspring (or some of the offspring) were described as golden. In crude terms these were mutant tigers, and the recessive gene became visible in the appearance of the tiger i.e., the phenotype because the tigers were inbred which allows recessive genes to become visible in how they affect the appearance of the animal. Golden tiger. Photo: Pixabay. So, I think is fair to say that the first golden tigers were created because of inbreeding which indicates a confined population of tigers perhaps living in a fragmented distribution which meant that tigers had to mate with each other in a relatively small group resulting in inbreeding. There were two groups of golden tigers: those in the wild and those in captivity. My research, thanks to Sarah Hartwell, indicates that the last recorded wild golden tigers were shot as a pair in 1932 in Mysore Pradesh, India. Hartwell thinks that this m...

The well-known white tigers at zoos which are so popular with tourists and visitors are not albinos. Albinos have pure white coats and pink eyes. White tiger. Not an albino. Photo: Pixabay. The glamorous white coat is chalky-white, their stripes are chocolate coloured (a dilute version of the normal near black stripes), and their eyes are ice-blue. Not the appearance of an albino cat. This non-albino tiger coat is due to a pair of recessive genes. It is thought the genes emerged as recessive genes because of a mutation which occurred about 100 years ago (as at 2002). All the world's captive white tigers are descendants from one dazzlingly beautiful white cub spared the tiger hunter's bullet as he was captured in Madhya Pradesh, India in 1951. His name was Mohan and he was mated with a normal-coloured tigress. All the offspring were normal. The breeders forced the recessive gene to the surface by inbreeding Mohan with one of the cubs mentioned. This produced the result they w...