The white tiger is a mutation of the tiger gene. Among the six subspecies of tigers, white tigers exist only in the Bengal tiger and the Northeast tigers, while the Northeast tiger's white tiger is extremely rare, while the Bengal white tiger has a population of over 200 today and is the most common white tiger.

So, how do white tigers come about? Why do white tigers rarely appear in nature? How did the Bengal white tiger population become so large? Let's learn more about the white tiger.

How are white tigers created?

Bengal white tigers are often misunderstood to be suffering from albinism, but they are not.

A tiger with true albinism does not have stripes on its body. Instead, Bengal white tigers have normal black or dark brown stripes.

In fact, all tigers with "abnormal" hair are associated with mutations in the gene that controls hair color (A477V gene).

Under normal circumstances, tigers have a gene that allows them to display normal coloration, but when the A477V gene is mutated, they become white tigers.

From an evolutionary point of view, tigers went through the ice age. In the main environment of ice and snow, white fur is more conducive to hiding themselves, and some scientists believe that tigers' fur during the ice age may be predominantly white.

Therefore, the formation of the white tiger is caused by a mutation in the gene that controls the tiger's fur, although the chances of such a gene mutation are very low.

The mutated gene is recessive, and even if both parents carry the white recessive allele, there is only a one in four chance of producing a white tiger.

And in the wild environment, white fur is not good for survival and the ability to survive in the wild will be very low, these are the reasons why white tigers are rare.

Why is the number of white tigers in Bangladesh so high?

This is the result of human intervention, where humans allow inbreeding between white tigers so that they can produce more white tigers.

Although inbreeding can lead to various defects in the offspring, they are artificially screened to keep them breeding. In captivity, they are "fed and clothed" and have a much higher survival rate.

In today's environment, it is difficult for white tigers to survive in the wild because they mainly rely on sneak attacks to hunt, and their white body hair is more likely to expose themselves, so only captive breeding can guarantee their survival and reproduction.