There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
--- Peter Broekhuijsen ---

  • 2 Vote(s) - 4 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
White, Black & Golden Tigers

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 07-26-2019, 05:30 AM by Rishi )

(07-25-2019, 11:54 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:
(07-24-2019, 05:34 PM)Ashutosh Wrote:
Quote:There is no reason why a melanistic leopard couldn't survive in Africa but it hasn't been seen there in recent times and it seems mostly only seen in kabini, not throughout other Indian reserves.
@Pckts 
Actually, there is a very common misconception amongst people about melanistic leopards of India. According to camera traps laid in Nilgiri Biosphere reserve and other places in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, more than 10% of all camera trapped leopards were melanistic.

https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/07/16/legendary-black-leopards-appear-on-camera-traps/

There was also a pseudo melanistic leopard camera trapped from Kerala which looked like a King cheetah in it’s markings. I am guessing the evergreen nature of the Western Ghats makes it conducive for them to thrive. And, you are right about Kabini. I have seen 3 melanistic leopards myself in Nagarhole (also the place where I saw my first tiger so is a special place in my life).

That reminds me of the issue of the 'Pogeyan', which was mentioned by the photographer Sandesh Kadur, and is known to locals in the area of Anamudi, the highest point of the Western Ghats, in the Indian state of Kerala. Its name means "The cat that comes and goes like the mist." During broad daylight, Kadur reportedly saw the felid in the high-altitude grasslands around Anamudi. He described it as being big, with a long tail and rounded ears. Its uniform colour was darkish grey. Of the known cats, the Pogeyan is most likely to be an Indian leopard, because it was described as being similar to the leopard in size and shape, the leopard is known to exist in the Western Ghats, and the furs of some leopards may differ from their main appearance of being yellow with rosettes, such as by being melanistic.

https://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology...n-the-ghathttps://books.google.com/books?id=GJhFAQ...YQ6AEINjAC,

Pogeyan is speed supposed to be grey in colour, some mentions of dark spots.

I once found a case that could explain it... A cobweb panther(The cobwebbing is actually vitiligo)! 

*This image is copyright of its original author
4 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

India parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****

I didn't understand why they killed harmless cubs. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.researchgate.net/publication...d/download
4 users Like parvez's post
Reply

India parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author
6 users Like parvez's post
Reply

United Kingdom Spalea Offline
Wildanimal Lover
******

Some photos of black tigers in this short video are nice:




3 users Like Spalea's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 10-05-2019, 06:50 AM by Rishi )

Skins of a golden tigress & a white tiger from 19th century India.

http://messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-white.htm
*This image is copyright of its original author
4 users Like Rishi's post
Reply

Sanju Offline
Senior member
*****
( This post was last modified: 10-07-2019, 09:46 PM by Sanju )


*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Visakhapatnam.

He is Huge..
@sanjay_jayanth (that's me Joking )

DOP: Sep 20, 2019.

Shot by a bad quality Mobile cam.




His roar at 1:04

Unfortunately, Vizag Zoo Asiatic Lion male died and that leaves two females behind.

I made both the tiger and lion to roar by playing wild tiger and lion vocalizations on YouTube. It worked perfectly (!) and brought the tiger sooo close and posed for pictures. I think his name is Badshah (I can be wrong). Again, he's really huge.
5 users Like Sanju's post
Reply

Oman Lycaon Offline
أسد الأطلس
*****
Moderators

From the other thread.


*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like Lycaon's post
Reply

United States Pckts Offline
Bigcat Enthusiast
******

(10-26-2019, 11:18 PM)Lycaon Wrote: From the other thread.


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author
5 users Like Pckts's post
Reply

Roflcopters Offline
Modern Tiger Expert
*****
( This post was last modified: 07-15-2020, 01:34 PM by Rishi )

here is more info about Kazi106F


Color aberration found in the tigers of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (Written in 2017 with Rabin Sharma Sir)

Color aberrations are very rare occurrences and are recorded only in few incidents in the wild. Most of us are aware about white tigers, and might have seen in the zoos. Few years back, during 2008 camera trapping, the presence of black tigers was revealed in the jungles of Similipal Tiger Reserve.   

The skin of tigers is orang-yellow with black stripes and whitish abdominal region.  The yellowish background is controlled by a set of ‘agouti genes’ and their alleles and the black colored stripes are controlled by ‘tabby genes’ and their alleles. Suppression of any of these genes may lead to color variation in tiger. 
Various forms of colorations have been recorded in tigers in the zoos or in few wild cases. It may be stripe-less white, with reduced stripes, lighter yellowish, darker whitish, normal light yellowish, normal, normal deep yellowish, rufous, brownish with dark stripes, brownish without dark stripes, blue-melanistic, or black melanistic.

The biological reason of color aberration may be due to excessive inbreeding caused by habitat destruction and loss of connectivity. The recessive genes are showing up due to inbreeding within fragmented population. A recent study done by  Cardiff University and NCBS (National Center for Biological Sciences) have found that 93% of the tiger DNA variants from British period are no longer present in the current tiger population.
 
One tigress with lighter yellowish skin with lighter black stripes and more whitish expressions in the abdominal and in the facial region was photo-captured in the year 2014 for the first time in Kaziranga during all India tiger monitoring exercise. She was also camera trapped in the year 2015. In the year 2016 she was camera-trapped with one more tiger. Conclusion could not be drawn about the other individual whether it was her cub or a mate due to low quality of the image. She was again camera-trapped in the recent camera trapping of 2017. This year she might have crossed minimum age of 4-5 years.  Generally at the stage of 3 to 4 years female gets sexual maturity and give birth. Therefore, she might have given birth or ready to give birth to new babies. It will be very interesting to observe whether her faulty gene will be carried to her successors or not!

Unfortunately, in the photographs we found some serious injury marks on her body. Someone (may be other tiger) has mauled her nose and left forelimb badly. If there is no quick recovery to her wounds, especially the injury on her nose, she may succumb to death. 

However, the finding of this unique individual is not a cause for celebration, but an indication for us to start pondering about better connectivity among the fragmented populations of tigers to prevent one of the serious problems of population decline, i.e. inbreeding.


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author
6 users Like Roflcopters's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators

@tigerluver pick one of these for reddit..
1 user Likes Rishi's post
Reply

United States Pckts Offline
Bigcat Enthusiast
******


*This image is copyright of its original author

Similpal Tiger Reserve
4 users Like Pckts's post
Reply

Guatemala GuateGojira Offline
Expert & Researcher
*****
( This post was last modified: 11-05-2019, 03:30 AM by GuateGojira )

Since the begining of the discussion with Pckts and until the last posts here, now we can be 100% sure that white/golden/black tigers do lived and survided in the wild in the past. Corbett was 100% right, after all he SAW and filmed the white tigress with her cubs!

The increase in tiger numbers in the present, at India, probably triggered the rise of these color variations in the wild again, although the article posted by Roflcopters suggest that the rise of this colors came from imbreeding. 

With a golden tiger in Kaziranga, white tigers in Nilgiri hills and black tigers in Similipal, it seems that maybe, in the future, the wild white geen will rise again, IF India keep protecting its tigers.


*This image is copyright of its original author
3 users Like GuateGojira's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators

White tigers in wild? WII reconsiders its stand
TOI | Dec 15, 2019

*This image is copyright of its original author

BHOPAL: Almost seven years after Wildlife Institute of India (WII) vetoed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s plan to re-introduce white tigers in the wild in Sanjay Tiger Reserve, WII has reversed its stand and suggested NTCA get a detailed technical proposal from Madhya Pradesh “if it is still interested”.
WII director Dr G S Rawat has written to NTCA, with a copy marked to MP’s chief wildlife warden, for “further perusal” to reintroduce white tigers in their last confirmed place of origin in Vindhya region where the first such big cat was first captured 65 years ago.

While a section of senior forest officers is excited by this development, many others doubt its feasibility, pointing out that all white tigers in India have been born and bred in captivity and it’s doubtful if they can be rewilded to hunt well enough to survive in the forest. Also, white tigers cannot camouflage as well as normal Bengal tigers, especially in the dark, and that could hamper their chances at hunt.

When this proposal first came up in 2013, WII rejected it, saying “White tigers are a variant of Royal Bengal Tiger and not a separate species. It has no unique conservation value.” Now, it seems more open to the idea, but top MP forest officials are cautious.
Chief wildlife warden of MP, U Prakasham, told TOI that the government has not taken any decision yet. “We have only received an opinion. Nothing has been decided yet,” he said. Dr Anup Nayak, member secretary NTCA and ADG (tiger project), said a “lot of brainstorming has to be done before embarking upon this proposal. We have forwarded WII’s correspondence to MP government and now it’s their call. If they are interested we will decide further steps,” he added.
Retired IFS officer Suhas Kumar strongly advises against it. “This project was abandoned for valid reasons. Now, some people are trying to revive it to promote tourism. There are many other compelling issues in wildlife conservation which need urgent attention, rather than this totally undesirable proposal,” said Kumar, former PCCF of Madhya Pradesh and member WWF-India.

Rawat, the WII director, acknowledges that the organisation had earlier opposed releasing white tigers in the wild. In his letter, he makes a case for revival of the project: “Since restoration of genetic diversity of a species is one of the objectives of restoration ecology, it would be appropriate to consider reintroducibg the white allele within the gene pool of white tigers. This is especially relevant since the allele has been lost from the gene pool by selective removal from humans through trophy-hunting.”

White tiger allele is now only available in captive ones, he points out. “If this allele were to be reintroduced into the wild tiger gene pool, then it would have to be from the captive tiger. This is where planning would be required,” says his letter, adding that WII can prepare an appropriate proposal once MP’s chief wildlife warden “shows interest to peruse this further”. Dr. H S Pabla, who retired as MP’s chief wildlife warden in 2012 after 35 years in the Indian Forest Service, is confident about the success of this project. “Of course, it is feasible. But care must be taken to find an animal with unquestioned Indian pedigree. White tigers have lived in Indian forests for centuries, without there being any protected areas and hunters gunning for it. It will be much easier for the introduced animal in a tiger reserve, with the forest department to look after its security. We have successfully re-wilded many captive tigers in MP in the last 10 years. That experience will guide this project also.”
“Rehabilitation of white tiger in its natural habitat, which is Sanjay Tiger Reserve, will help conserve the genetic variant. Now that WII is ready, the MP government should send a proposal to NTCA at the earliest so that this project can be taken up,” said Dr R G Soni, retired IFS officer and former field director of Pench Tiger reserve. He believes it will not only conserve the white tiger variant but also boost tourism .

Vaibhav Chaturvedi, a conservation professional, however, warns that such a project is fraught with complications and pitfalls. “White tigers are leucistic tigers, selectively bred by back-crossing of individuals within the same blood line. All living white tigers are in captivity and all of them are believed to trace back their lineage to a single mutant individual. 
Most are highly inbred animals and this inbreeding results in a lot of associated health issues. Many zoos across the world have therefore stopped breeding white tigers,” he pointed out, suggesting that the forest department rather focuses its resources on reintroduction of lion, cheetah and wild buffalo in MP. “I think it (white skin) will be a big disadvantage for a predator that relies on stealth to hunt,” he said.
1 user Likes Rishi's post
Reply

India parvez Offline
Tiger enthusiast
*****

50 instances of white tigers in the wild,

*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author
2 users Like parvez's post
Reply

Rishi Offline
Moderator
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 07-13-2020, 09:04 AM by Rishi )

Melanistic mother & cub.


2 users Like Rishi's post
Reply






Users browsing this thread:
2 Guest(s)

About Us
Go Social     Subscribe  

Welcome to WILDFACT forum, a website that focuses on sharing the joy that wildlife has on offer. We welcome all wildlife lovers to join us in sharing that joy. As a member you can share your research, knowledge and experience on animals with the community.
wildfact.com is intended to serve as an online resource for wildlife lovers of all skill levels from beginners to professionals and from all fields that belong to wildlife anyhow. Our focus area is wild animals from all over world. Content generated here will help showcase the work of wildlife experts and lovers to the world. We believe by the help of your informative article and content we will succeed to educate the world, how these beautiful animals are important to survival of all man kind.
Many thanks for visiting wildfact.com. We hope you will keep visiting wildfact regularly and will refer other members who have passion for wildlife.

Forum software by © MyBB