White tiger
color mutation of tiger
The white tiger is a leucistic morph of the tiger, typically the Bengal tiger. White tigers have the typical black stripes of a tiger, but its coat is otherwise white or near-white, and it has blue eyes. Natural occurrences of this mutation are occasionally reported in the wild in India. The vast majority of white tigers are a result of intentional inbreeding for human entertainment, a practice which is banned by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for institutions wishing to be accredited.
Variation
White tigers have been recorded in India since the 16th century CE. The first white tiger was captured in 1915. A white tiger named Mohan was captured by the king of Rewa, Martand Singh, in 1951 from the forest of Mukundpur, Sidhi district, which is now part of the Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve. Many white tigers found in zoos around the world are the offspring of Mohan. According to Kailash Sankhala, the last white tiger ever seen in the wild was shot in 1958. White Bengal tigers are distinctive due to the color of their fur. The white fur is caused by a lack of the pigment pheomelanin, which is found in Bengal tigers with orange fur.
The public source identifies “White tiger” as color mutation of tiger. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around White, tiger and color.
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This entry incorporates text from “White tiger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.