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White tigers are extremely rare in the wild. Axel Heimken/AP/Press Association Images
Endangered Species
Tiger losing its stripes?
A white tiger cub in an Indian zoo is baffling visitors.
THREE WHITE TIGER cubs were born on 6 June at a zoo in eastern India, and quickly became the zoo’s star attraction.
But one of them has become even more of a local celebrity, because of his unusual coat.
Although two of the cubs are white with black stripes, one is becoming increasingly black:
Senior zoo biologist Dr Manimozhi says that the cub’s colouring is dominated by a black pigment in the skin which is usually balanced out by a yellow pigment.
Some tigers are cream or white instead of the characteristic orange colour because of a recessive pigmentation gene.
Dr Manimozhi says that the colour the cub grows into by adulthood will be his permanent coat pattern.
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