Pale Tiger : An Exceedingly Rare Wildlife

A rare Pale Tiger, whose wool conservationists say could be the fairest of any in the wild.

It is the palest tiger scientists have ever seen on the record(Wildlife Protection Society) or heard about in literature.
The animal was spotted last week by wildlife photographer* Nilanjan Ray* while driving in Nilgiri biosphere reserve in Tamil Nadu state.

Pale tigers, distinguished from white tigers, are thought to have a genetic mutation that results in what biologists call color morphism. It occurs in environments with large, haphazard mating pools that allow for the varied exchange of genes. It is quite possible that paler-looking tigers may occur rarely due to waned levels of the pigment melanin in a phenomenon called leucism, says tiger expert K. Ullas Karanth. “Excess melanin causes black tigers, such as the ones in Simlipal in Odisha".

A doctor of zoology, said the birth of a tiger with pale wool was “quite a genetic change”. There is a possibility that the tiger is albino, citing the lack of pinkish color around its eyes.
Many tigers have been found but no one supposed to have similarity with this one .The last white tiger in the wild was shot in 1958, and though some still live in public and private zoos, many suffer severe health problems due to a lack of genetic mixing.The absence of white tiger genes in the wild meant the pale tiger could be the fairest known tiger living outside captivity.

You occasionally see lighter-colored tigers, but they’re nothing compared to this one.There are also some pale tigers in imprisonment, particularly in the US, but these are ‘cocktail’ tigers that are bred that way, with genes from white tigers.
The white looking tigers used to sit on the hillside, half hidden by the undergrowth, and looking at their prey. It looked curious and cute, rather than scared or aggressive. And then another tigers come closer to the first one,they could be siblings, or mother and cub.They played hide and seek with their prey for a while before vanishing.It was supposed that the tiger had not yet reached adulthood.

The local forest department has been informed of the spot where the animal was sighted and have said they will install camera traps.

Photo credit Google