Can White Tigers Live Successfully In The Wild?
Filed in Category Tigers
From what I’ve heard, there are white tigers found in the wild. But are these animals success in the wild when compared to their orange counterparts? Do they have any advantages or disadvantages over normal tigers?
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White tigers have been well-documented in the wild since the early 1900’s. While exact numbers are not known, there are a few rare white tigers in the wild even today, indicating that they are at least able to survive for several generations in the wild. However, I doubt that white tigers are able to live as sucessfulyl as normal tigers (success being a relative term here, even normal tigers are endangered)
Cons:
- It is commonly thought that white tigers are Siberian tigers that live in Russia and north China, and that they live in the snow. If this would true, white tigers would have an advantage, as they could blend in with the snow. However, white tigers are actually Bengal tigers that have a recessive gene causing their unique pigmentation. Bengal tigers, both white and orange, are found primarily in India and Bangladesh; regions dominated by tropical rain forests. The coat of the white tiger stands out vividly against the shadows and the greenery of these forests. This gives it a definite disadvantage, as their white pelage alerts poachers and prey of their position.
- There have been some attempts to breed white tigers in captivity and then release them back into the wild. Unfortunately, the genetics of captive white tigers are so limited that this often results in inbreeding. Crippling health problems can then occur in these white tigers, meaning that they would be virtually inable to survive on their own.
Pros:
- White tigers tend to be born a little larger their orange counterparts, and tend to remain larger into adulthood. This size might compensate slightly for their hereditary disadvantage.
- The public is usually fascinated by white tigers; captive ones can make more money than a skin. Poachers or rescue groups might be more inclined to save the life of a white tiger and sell or give it to a zoo, knowing that there is high demand for white tigers. Even though the tiger wouldn’t be in the wild anymore, at least it would still have survived.
White tigers are not a separate species or subspecies to normally coloured tigers. They are simply individuals of the Bengal subspecies with a genetic condition called leucism, which results in reduced pigmentation. This is not the same as albinism, which is a complete lack of pigment (an albino tiger would have no stripes, and pink eyes, not blue). The Bengal subspecies is the only subspecies in which leucism is known to occur. This subspecies is found in countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal – most white individuals have been reported in India, and most captive white tigers are believed to be descended from one captured here in the 1950s.
White tigers are not purely the result of inbreeding, as some websites suggest – they can and do occur in the wild. However, they are rare for two reasons. First, leucism is caused by recessive genes, meaning that two individuals carrying the gene must mate, and both must pass on the gene to the offspring in order for that offspring to be leucistic (if only one parent passes on the leucistic gene, the offspring will be normally coloured, since the gene for normal colour is dominant over the leucistic gene). Second, being white is something of a disadvantage for a tiger. It lacks the natural camouflage of normally coloured individuals, and most of those born will be killed by predators whilst young and vulnerable, since they stand out. Those that do survive to adulthood will have a hard time hunting for the same reason – it will be easier for their prey to see them coming.
White tigers are far more common in captivity than they are in the wild, as they are a draw for zoos and wildlife parks. Because of the unlikelihood of producing white individuals by luck alone, their popularity has unfortunately led to some unscrupulous breeding in the past. Since white tigers must have two copies of the white gene in order to be white, they have only white genes to pass on to their offspring, meaning that if you breed two white tigers together, they will have white cubs. Related white tigers have thus often been bred together, meaning that many captive individuals are now inbred and suffer the detrimental effects. It is inbreeding that causes their health problems, not being leucistic in itself.
In the 1950s the last known white tigers were captured from the wild or killed for trophies. A female, Mohini, was brought to America to start a breeding program. None have been seen in the wild since that time, so it is likely the gene has been removed from the population by hunting and live capture of animals that were carriers. But when they did occur in the wild, a number of them were mature adults. So apparently they were able to overcome the difficulty of their lack of pigment making them stand out to prey and predators alike to reach adulthood.
In the jungles of India there is no known advantage for a tiger to lack pigment. The gene was found only in the pure Bengal subspecies; if it had occured in Siberians who live in snow and ice it might actually help them camoflage, though the blue eyes would be a problem in such a high glare environment. Blue eyes are far less efficient at keeping out stray light than darker eyes are.
White tigers in captivity today all descend from Mohan, Mohini’s father, captured as a cub. Quite a bit of inbreeding has been necessary to perpetuate the strain, so you do see evidence of inbreeding depression – reduced vitality, reduced fertility, crossed eyes, kinked tails, deformed faces, etc. Early on someone did cross Siberian in to make a bigger more impressive white tiger than the pure Bengals were. But it was not enough to overcome the problems of inbreeding.
White tigers have no value in conservation breeding programs due to their mixed breed status. Siberian tigers are adapted to live in cold regions – big body, short ears, longer thicker fur, etc. Bengal tigers are adapted to live in a hot humid jungle environment where it may reach 120F and 100% relative humidity. Crossing the two simply makes a mixed breed that has reduced fitness in both of those environments. It’s not as cold tolerant as a Siberian, nor as able to dissipate heat as a Bengal. They are captive beautiful curiousities but not part of serious convservation breeding programs.
They *are* found in the wild, and I can think of three disadvantages that a white and black tiger would have over the regular orange and black kind, namely:
1) White tigers would be less well camoflaged thus would find prey harder to catch
2) White tigers have pale skin , so would be more prone to sunburn
3) White and albino animals have increased risk of developing deafness and/or blindness
No they wouldn’t. Their white coat would would destroy all their hopes of camouflage. Even orange tigers succeed on hunts only 5 to 10 percent of the time, if they were white they wouldn’t be able to catch their prey at all and eventually starve to death.
yes. can albino humans live on their own?