Unlike the wild and captive orange and black striped tigers, white tigers are characterized by their white and black coats as well as their bright, blue eyes. As pets and in zoos, these tigers are highly sought for their unique and striking beauty. Because of their popularity, white tigers have been mistreated.

Origin of White Tigers

Despite many beliefs, the white tiger is not a species of tiger by itself. White tigers are Bengal tigers, the most common tiger in the world. However, like many other animals, mixtures of gene traits can create anomalies like the white coat instead of orange and the blue eyes instead of brown.

White tigers were originally spotted in the wild, but they were eventually captured and put into zoos and in captivity.

Beauty over Health

When a desired trait, like blue eyes and a white coat, appears, tiger traders, and in some cases, zoos will use only those tigers to breed. Since the chances of producing a white tiger is higher if the parents are both white tigers, there have been many cases of inbreeding white tigers in captivity. In fact, it is believed that all white tigers are inbred.

This selective breeding will produce a white tiger, but it can also produce health problems such as immune deficiencies, mental issues, cleft palates, and other developmental issues.

Because of these health issues, many organizations, such as the Association of Zoos & Aquariums in the United States, have banned the breeding of white tigers.

Final Thoughts

Though the breeding of these tigers is highly discouraged, many believe that using the profits from tourism would be able to help orange tigers in the wild. Despite this idea of mistreating white tigers for profit, the world population of tigers has been steadily declining. Many experts say that breeding white tigers will do nothing to save their wild cousins, and studies show this is true.

Citations

https://wildwelfare.org/white-tigers/

https://www.tigersinamerica.org/whitetiger.htm

Photo by Lucie Jung on Unsplash

About Project Endangered Tiger

Project Endangered Tigers was born from the passionate desire of a grandfather to ensure that his granddaughters will inherit a world where tigers still exist in the wild. Project Endangered Tigers aims to spread awareness about the plight of the world’s last wild tigers while raising funds for their protection.

The Project consists of unique digital tiger products which keep tigers front and center in the digital realm while generating funds to protect them in the wild. Digital tiger products are paired with the website, which is home to up-to-date information on tigers, latest tiger news, and the specific conservation actions urgently needed to stop each sub-species from disappearing into extinction.