The habitat of a white tiger: What Type of Environment Does a White Tiger Live In?

30 Amazing White Tiger Facts for Kids 2023 [With Pictures]

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A white tiger is a Bengal tiger – it is not a species or sub-species of tiger as some people think. 

Like all Bengal tigers they used to live in the wild in Asia, particularly in countries like India. Now though, they live in captivity, which helps keep them protected.

What do White Tigers look like?

White Tigers have a creamy white coat, blue eyes and gray or brown-colored stripes. Pretty beautiful!

White tigers can weigh up to around 570 pounds, which is a little more than the weight of two giant pandas. They can grow to be more than ten feet long.

White tiger is about 80 to 110 cms tall at the shoulder.

They like living in forests and grassy areas, and their stripes help give them some camouflage!

Why are White Tigers White

White tigers are white due to their genes, or their genetics.  

It’s also not the albino kind (which is a form that lacks hair and skin color). For a white tiger to be born, two Bengal tigers with specific recessive genes have to mate.

Their white fur is caused by an absence of pheomelanin, a pigment found in the normal orange tigers. This, however, is exceedingly uncommon, occurring just once per 10,000 births.

Their coat darkens when the weather becomes colder. When exposed to low temperatures, the White Tiger, like Siamese Cats and Himalayan Rabbits, produces an enzyme that induces a response in its fur, turning them darker.

The weaker immune system associated with their genetic coloring is thought to be the reason.

White Tigers vs Regular Tigers

The face of a white tiger is similar to that of any other Bengal tiger. They are only different when it comes to their color. The fur on their face is white, meaning you can easily tell them apart from other Bengal tigers.

A white tiger also has very intriguing eyes – they are sapphire blue which combined with their white coat, makes them look very attractive and fascinating.

White male tigers weigh approximately 190 to 260 kg (420 to 570 pounds). You sure wouldn’t be able to lift them very easily, even if you did get close to one!

White Tigers have also been seen to grow quicker than their orange counterparts. They are larger from the moment they are born, and this continues until adulthood. When they are 3 years old, they are considered completely developed.

Where do White Tigers live?

Like all Bengal tigers they used to live in the wild in Asia, particularly in countries like India. Only 12 white tigers were seen in the wild throughout the twentieth century. Now they live in captivity, which helps keep them protected.

When white tigers were first discovered in the wild, they shared the same habitat as orange Bengal tigers. Its primary habitat consisted of areas of the jungle with plenty of food, water, and trees.

Tigers have historically inhabited a wide range of habitats, including tropical rain forests, savannahs and mangroves.

White Tiger Behavior

When compared to the usual orange Bengal tiger, white tigers are more muscular, stronger and moreaggressive.

The white tiger, like all other tigers, is a solitary animal that lives in its own territory of around 20 square miles.

They are diurnal (active during daytime) but most of their hunting is after dusk.

How Long do White Tigers Live

In the wild, tigers usually live for around 10 years. Since almost all white tigers live in captivity, they live longer, for around 15 years.

What do White Tigers Eat

The white tiger, like all other tigers, is a carnivore, which means it hunts and eats other animals.

There are no white tigers living in the wild anymore, but when they were in the wild more than a hundred years ago, they hunted just like orange Bengal tigers.  They hunt animals at night, approaching gently so as not to be noticed.

White tigers in the wild mostly hunted herbivores like deer, goats, buffalo, wild boar, baby elephants and baby rhinoceros. If they are hungry and unable to find herbivores, they also kill and eat leopards and wolves.

Tigers don’t eat stale meat and have a strong preference for freshly killed animals. They can consume 40 pounds of meat in a single feeding.

What are Snow Tigers?

Snow tigers are not a species of tiger but are actually white Bengal tigers. Some people refer to tigers who live where it snows, as Snow Tigers, but that would be Siberian Tigers which are also known at Amur Tigers.

Interesting White Tiger Facts:

In 1561, the very first sighting of a white tiger was documented in India in Akbar Nama (a chronicle maintained by the Mughal King Akbar). 

White Bengal tiger develops faster and is heavier than the conventional orange-colored Bengal tiger. It is the second largest tiger, smaller only to the Siberian Tiger.

The white tiger’s peak speed is 60 miles per hour.

Each tiger’s stripes are distinct from those of other tigers. They aren’t simply fur-deep either. If you shaved a white tiger, you’d notice that the stripes were still visible on their skin.

Mohan is the most well-known white tiger to be discovered in the wild. All 200 white tigers in captivity today are believed to be descended from Mohan.

Now, why not explore some more fun animal facts?

Animals

White Tigers: Conserving a Lie | Saving Earth

by Sharyn Beach

This week Advocacy for Animals is pleased to publish this article by Sharyn Beach, a librarian, writer, and Big Cat Rescue volunteer, on a common but misguided notion of conservation and its tragic consequences for the lives of white tigers. (For more information about Big Cat Rescue, see Advocacy‘s articles Big Cat Rescue and Big Cat Bailout.)

Conservation?

Kenny, a white tiger with deformities—courtesy Big Cat Rescue.

Conservation. It is a word that we hear and repeat often. Ubiquitous in the media, it often conjures up a warm feeling, but as a concept conservation is largely misunderstood. Most of us view it solely in terms of individual species: if the number of animals of a certain species is sufficiently great, particularly if it is a species that we happen to like or find charismatic, “conservation” has been achieved, and we may check it off our collective to-do list. Upon closer inspection, though, we see that this conclusion is fundamentally flawed and is not only not preventing endangerment and extinction but is often leaving a trail of suffering in its wake.

The basic problem is that this limited view of conservation fails to consider the big picture—namely, the habitat in which the species that we are trying to save from extinction lives, on which it depends for its survival, and in which each animal makes a unique and significant contribution. It fails to consider the complex interrelationships between species and living systems and lulls us into believing that, as long as we have enough animals living in cages, we need do nothing about the destruction of the places they once called home; nor need we consider how certain animals do or do not fit into those places.

Perhaps no other single species embodies the conservation issue more than the tiger. Sleek and graceful, powerful and exotic, the tiger is the very definition of “charismatic mega fauna,” yet their numbers in the wild have dropped more than 95 percent in just 100 years. We respond intensely to the bold orange-and-black felines, and sometimes even more so to the almost mystical white tiger. Their ghostly white appearance and searing blue eyes are difficult to ignore. Because we are fascinated with things we consider to be rare—like gold—we value the white tiger for its rarity, and find a ready rationalization for perpetuating its existence by simply engaging one, perhaps now meaningless, word: conservation. If orange-and-black tigers are facing such a gloomy future in the wild, then, we conclude, surely the rare white tiger is in the most trouble: it could be the “poster child” for the wreckage that the reckless attitudes of human beings have left in what we used to call wild places.

But if there is any issue for which the white tiger is a poster child, it is our faulty understanding of conservation. The headlines are all too familiar: this zoo or that performer is breeding white tigers to save them from extinction and restore them to their native habitats. The media and the public adore such stories, but the heartwarming and short-lived nature of today’s news belies the real story that will surface for the white tiger cubs tomorrow. The truth is difficult for many people to accept. White tigers are not a species and do not have a native habitat. Tigers do not inhabit any section of the globe in which it would be advantageous for their survival to be white.

A Question of Biology

Kenny, a white tiger with deformities—courtesy Big Cat Rescue.

What we call the “royal” white tiger is in fact a genetic anomaly, caused by a double recessive gene occurring so rarely in nature that experts estimate that only one in every 10,000 tigers born in the wild is white. This anomaly, called “leucism,” prevents the pigment from coloring the skin and fur and, more importantly, robs the animal of a main tool for survival—camouflage. Without proper coloring, the ambush technique upon which tigers depend for catching food is seriously compromised. If anyone were foolish enough to attempt to release a white tiger into any habitat that tigers normally occupy, there is a good chance it would starve to death. Dr. Dan Laughlin, an international consultant on the care of zoological animals, stated it well in “The White Tiger Fraud,” an article written for the Web site of Big Cat Rescue: “when a deleterious recessive genetic mutation randomly occurs that is disadvantageous for the survival of the animal, such as white color in a tropical jungle environment, the animal does not survive to pass on that genetic mutation or disadvantageous characteristic to its offspring” (italics added). In other words, cruel as it may sound, nature does not provide a place for the white tiger.

If nature is designed to prevent the survival of genetic mutations that are a danger to the survival of an entire species, then why do we see white tigers in zoos and circuses across the United States? The answer is simple: they are produced by inbreeding. In an essay published on the Web site of Save the Tiger Fund, Ron Tilson, conservation director of the Minnesota Zoo, writes: “to produce white tigers or any other phenotypic curiosity, directors of zoos and facilities must continuously inbreed, father to daughter, to granddaughter, and so on.” According to Laughlin, in addition to the now famous and severely inbred line of white Bengal tigers that can be traced back to Mohan, a white tiger taken as a cub out of the wild in 1951 and bred back to his daughter and grand-daughters, “a second and separate origin of the white tiger … occurred spontaneously in two separate private collections in [the United States], when both owners inbred brothers to sisters.” Experts agree that genetic diversity is vital to the health of both individuals and entire populations of species. The most critically endangered felines, such as the South China tiger and the Amur leopard, are considered to be functionally extinct by some experts because with numbers as low as 20 or 30, inbreeding is inevitable. Yet in the case of the white tiger, the breeding of mothers to sons and fathers to daughters is commonplace. And there is a price to be paid for it.

White tigers endure a host of health problems about which the public is largely unaware, including immune system deficiencies that cause many to live miserable and short lives, scoliosis of the spine, hip dysplasia, neurological disorders, cleft palates, and protruding, bulging eyes. Many are stillborn and many more turn out to be too deformed to display. Among the ones that look pretty, according to some tiger trainers, only one in 30 will consistently perform.

At this point someone must face the question rarely asked by the reporters who happily recounted the birth of the white-tiger cubs: what now? What happens to the 29 out of 30 white tigers that were too dull and sick to perform? We know that they could not have been, and will never be, released into the wild. The lucky ones will find permanent homes in accredited sanctuaries, but the majority will either be killed or sold to traveling zoos, circuses, and wildlife centers, living lives in quarters that are often cramped, filthy, and rarely inspected.

There is yet another side to this sad story. What becomes of the orange-and-black cubs (by far the majority) born to parents who were specifically paired to render the desirable white coloring? Their fate will most likely include becoming victims of canned hunts, being sold into the exotic pet trade to live out their lives as breeding animals, or being killed and dismembered, their parts shipped to markets in Asia (see the Advocacy for Animals article Fighting for Tigers). Virtually none of them will join their wild counterparts for the purpose of repopulating their severely dwindling numbers. They will never see the wild lands from which their forebears were taken.

Taking Responsibility

Meanwhile, healthy, wild tigers, able to engage in the activities for which tigers were designed, disappear at alarming rates. Just 100 years ago, there were approximately 100,000 tigers living in the wild; some experts estimate that fewer than 3,500 individuals roam the forests of our world today. Three subspecies of tigers are gone forever, and the South China tiger is well on its way to joining their ranks.

If the relentless breeding of white tigers has nothing to do with conservation, and the resulting animals are sick and doomed to life in a cage, then why do people continue to breed them? We do not have to look far to find the answer. The trade in white tigers is lucrative. White tiger cubs have fetched as much as $60,000 a piece. According to Tilson, “white tigers are an aberration artificially bred and proliferated by a few zoos, private breeders, and circus folks, who do this for economic rather than conservation reasons.” Countless thousands of dollars pass through the hands of those who trade these animals like a commodity—countless thousands that do nothing to stop the poaching of wild tigers, do nothing to stave off the destruction of wild tiger habitats, and serve only to keep dignified creatures behind bars. Do we really value genetic mutations more than the habitat in which healthy wild tigers live and thrive?

Laughlin believes that “the genealogical misrepresentation, repeated inbreeding, exhibition and sale … of white tigers … initiated the greatest conservation deception of the American public in history.” The insidiousness of this deception is that the heartwarming stories of individual cubs being born again and again creates the illusion that we are doing something. It creates the illusion that the so-called experts are solving the problems that we create with our own complacency.

It is time to face the issue squarely. There can be no conservation of species without conservation of habitats, and there can be no conservation of habitats without conservation of entire ecosystems; therefore, we are accountable for how our actions affect those ecosystems, in every choice that we make. Conservation. It is not about the white tiger. It is about us.

Will our fascination with tigers give them back the dignified, free life that they had earned by surviving every hardship nature threw at them before we came along? Or will we be satisfied that we have done our job by having enough of them living in cages, performing tricks, and dazzling us with genetic deformities we would never dream of perpetuating in humans? If we choose the second option, then there is one more reality that we must be willing to accept. If we pull animals that we like out of the sinking ship that is their destroyed habitat, put them in cages, and call it a day, every single species that we do not find charismatic goes down with that ship. And with them go clues that could unlock the mysteries of the natural world—along with answers to questions that we perhaps no longer deem fundamental, because we have so thoroughly removed ourselves from that world. It begs one of those fundamental questions: if we can’t let other creatures assume their own roles in the broader ecosystem, how can we assume ours?

—Sharyn Beach

White tiger. Lifestyle and habitat of the white tiger

1. Origin and description of the white tiger

2. Habitat of the white tiger

3. Lifestyle and character of the white tiger

4. Nutrition of the white tiger

5. Reproduction and lifespan of the white tiger tiger

Origin and description of the white tiger

Once upon a time, around 1951, a man decided to hunt, and accidentally stumbled upon a tiger den. There were a few tiger cubs, among which lay just one little white tiger cub.

All but the white tiger cub were ordered to be destroyed. The hunter took a white male tiger cub. For several years he lived next to the master, delighting everyone with his exquisite beauty. People could not get enough of such a valuable specimen.

The gentleman, no doubt, wanted to get cubs from the valiant tiger, and finally got it by bringing together his ward owner of the forest and a beautiful red tigress. Soon, the entire palace was filled with white tiger cubs. And then, the gentleman came up with the idea to sell tiger cubs with an extraordinary color. The tigers were sold outside of India.

In India, a decree was issued to recognize animal white tiger as the property of the nation. In this country, 90,025 white tigers are treated with the greatest respect.

In very distant times, predators very often attacked the inhabitants of India. But, despite this, many events were held in India aimed at protecting these most beautiful animals.

White tiger habitat

The white tiger is an animal that lives in Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal and, directly, in India itself. This predator has tight-fitting white fur with stripes. The predator inherited such a pronounced color as a result of a congenital mutation of its color.

Their eyes are green or blue. White tigers, in principle, are not the largest species of tigers. Orange owners of the forest are much larger than whites. The white tiger is very flexible, graceful and his muscles are developed just fine, he has a dense physique.

In the photo, white tigers are female and male

The tiger’s ears are not very large and have a somewhat rounded shape. On the tongue, tigers have bulges that are great for separating meat from different bones.

Such predators have 4 toes on their hind legs, and 5 toes on their front paws. White tigers weigh a lot, about 500 kilograms, and the body length reaches 3 meters.

A predator has enough teeth — 30 pieces. The health of white tigers wants the best, because, as you know, crossing completely different breeds does not lead to anything good. Such tigers have health problems, namely:

— kidney disease;
— strabismus;
— poor eyesight;
— the spine and neck are rather curved;
— allergy.

The photo shows a fight between two male white tigers

White tigers are a very interesting specimen. Not all zoos can see these tabby cats. A lot of people from all over the world come to zoos to look at the graceful white tiger.

Lifestyle and character of the white tiger

Tigers are loners in life. That’s the nature of them. They, of course, stand as a wall for their territory, they mark it, not letting anyone in. Fight for it to the last.

The only exceptions are females of striped predators, only females they allow into their reclaimed territory and are ready to share food with them. In principle, females also share food with males.

But, usually, white tigers do not live in the usual environment, but in captivity. It is very difficult for them to survive in such an environment — after all, their color is quite white and is very noticeable when hunting. The tiger is an excellent swimmer and can even climb a tree, no matter how strange it may sound.

Before hunting prey, the predator tries to wash off its scent so that the prey cannot smell it and run away, leaving the tiger hungry. Tiger by nature, loves to sleep, in no way inferior to our domestic cats.

White tiger food

Like all wild animals, white tigers prefer meat. In the summertime, tigers can eat a little hazelnuts and edible herbs.

Deer is the main food. But, in some cases, a tiger can eat fish and even a monkey. Males are very different from females even in taste preferences.

If the male does not accept fish, then the female will gladly taste both fish and rabbit meat. In order for the tiger to feel full, he needs to eat about 30 kilograms of meat at a time.

White tigers, like all predators, love meat

A tiger is a lone hunter. He is accustomed to attack before quietly tracking prey. It moves towards the prey with small steps on half-bent paws very imperceptibly.

The predator gets food day and night, there is no specific time for it. The tiger is very cunning in hunting, he can imitate the cry of the animal he is hunting for

An interesting fact. During its fishing, the white tiger can jump up to 5 meters in height! And in length and even more so, at 10 meters. It can carry prey, even reaching one hundred kilograms.

Reproduction and longevity of the white tiger

Following nature, white tigers mate in the month of December or January. The female should have only one suitor. If suddenly a couple of males start courting a female, then there will be a fight for this female.

The strongest of the males gets the female. The female is ready to give birth at 3-4 years. Only once in 2-3 years the female can bear offspring. Moreover, the gestation of tiger cubs is approximately 100 days.

Pictured are white cubs

The female gives birth to cubs in March or April. In total, the female bears cubs — about three. The cubs are all near the mother, it is very dangerous to be near the male, he can easily kill them. For about six weeks, tiger cubs eat only mother’s milk.

The female tiger is, first of all, a loving and caring mother. She teaches her cubs everything: how to get food, protect them from dangers, teach them how to quietly and silently attack prey. The tigress will never leave her cubs in trouble — she will fight to the last.

When the cubs are 18 months old, they can be considered completely independent. Girls (females) remain close to their mother, and males disperse in search of a happy life. Striped predators live for about 26 years.

It should be noted that the white tiger is listed in the Red Book of Russia . Hunting them is strictly prohibited. There is an opinion that white predators can only breed in captivity and, therefore, their species may simply disappear. The white tiger is a very rare species.

In a country like China, this animal is a symbol of military prowess. Figurines with the image of a tiger are able to exorcise evil spirits. On the forehead of white tiger there is a very interesting arrangement of stripes — they are displayed in the form of Chinese characters, which mean power and might. Watch out for white tigers!

description of the animal, where it lives, what it eats

The white tiger is not considered a separate subspecies nowadays due to the fact that this fact is the result of natural mutations. As a result of gene mutations, individuals are born, almost white in color with a dark, almost black pattern, while their eye color is either blue or green.

Contents

• 1 White tiger: description
  • 1.1 Appearance
  • 1.2 Character and lifestyle
  • 1.3 How long white tigers live
  • 1.4 Sexual dimorphism
  • 1.5 Where it lives
  • 1.6 What it eats
  • 1.7 Reproduction and offspring
  • 1.8 Natural enemies
• 2 Population and species status
• 3 In conclusion

White tiger description

Speaking of pure white color of various representatives of the animal world, they are extremely rare in nature. White tigers also rarely appear in nature, with only one white tiger per 10,000 individuals. Over the years, from different parts of the globe, there have been reports of encounters with white tigers.

Bengal tiger — All about tiger subspecies | Cat family Bengal tiger

Watch this video on YouTube

Appearance

The white tiger has a pure white coat color with contrasting dark stripes that form a unique pattern on the animal’s body for each individual. Such an unusual coloring appeared as a result of congenital gene mutations. As a rule, the main color of the eyes of such unusual individuals is blue, although there are individuals with green eyes. Like ordinary tigers, white tigers have a strong, flexible body, characterized by the presence of powerful muscles. It should be noted that white tigers are characterized by their smaller size compared to tigers whose body color is traditional.

The head of the white tiger is characterized by a pronounced rounded shape, with the front part protruding and the frontal part noticeably convex. The cranium is relatively large and massive, with widely spaced cheekbones. The vibrissae of this predatory animal are up to 15 cm long and up to one and a half millimeters thick. Their color is pure white and they are arranged in 5 rows. In adults, up to 3 dozen large and strong teeth can be counted, while a pair of canines are the most developed, up to 8 centimeters long.

White tigers have smaller rounded ears. There are peculiar bulges on the tongue of the predator, due to which the predator easily separates the meat from the bone, and also washes. The hind limbs are armed with 4 fingers, and the front limbs with 5 fingers, which are distinguished by the presence of retractable claws. An adult white tiger, on average, weighs up to half a ton, with a body length of about 3 meters.

Interesting to know! As a result of natural mutations, this predator is characterized by very poor health. He suffers from diseases of the excretory system, diseases of the kidneys, the presence of strabismus or poor vision. In addition, the predator may have a too curved neck and spine, as well as allergic reactions.

In addition to white tigers with dark stripes, among such individuals there are classic albinos, whose fur is pure white, without any stripes. The body of such animals does not produce coloring pigments, so the eyes of albinos are characterized by a reddish tint, since the blood vessels passing inside the eyeballs are clearly visible.

Character and way of life

Living in the natural environment, these predatory animals prefer to lead a solitary lifestyle, zealously guarding their territory. They mark their territory in various ways, including physically, leaving marks on various vertical surfaces due to their sharp claws.

As for females, they can share their territories with their relatives. White tigers are excellent swimmers and easily climb trees, although this makes them quite vulnerable to hunters. In fact, living in nature, white tigers have a hard time, because their color does not allow them to hide from all sorts of enemies. In this regard, white tigers quite often became inhabitants of zoos, especially since in our time they can only be seen in captivity. The white tiger covers an area of ​​up to 100 square kilometers, although this figure depends on factors such as habitat characteristics, the presence of other individuals, including females, and the availability of food. The area of ​​the territory occupied by females is about 5 times smaller. In one day, adults travel an average of up to 27 kilometers, while they update their marks, indicating that the territory is occupied.

An important point! You should know that white tigers do not belong to albino tigers, despite the peculiar coloring of the coat.

This phenomenon is not unique to Bengal tigers. Similar mutations appear in Amur tigers, as evidenced by relevant information. Recently, there have been practically no such cases, which is most likely due to a decrease in the number of these predators living in the expanses of Siberia. At present, it is generally accepted that the population of these unique predators living on our planet is represented not only by Bengal, but also by hybrids of Bengal-Amur individuals.

How long do white tigers live

Due to their unique colors, white tigers find it difficult to survive in the natural environment. It is difficult for them to feed themselves, and it is also difficult to hide from possible enemies, especially such as humans. Throughout her life, the female gives birth to only 10-20 cubs, while half of them do not survive and do not live to puberty. Therefore, on average, white tigers in natural conditions live for about 25 years.

Sexual dimorphism

White tiger females are ready to breed by the age of 3 or 4, while males reach sexual maturity a year later. It is almost impossible to visually distinguish a female from a male. The arrangement of dark stripes on a white background is unique for each individual, which is used by specialists to identify animals.

Where it lives

White Bengal tigers live in the expanses of Northern and Central India, in Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal. For a long period of time, it was believed that white tigers represent predatory animals that are native to the expanses of Siberia, and their coloring is associated with the fact that they are perfectly camouflaged in areas where snow lies. As it later became known, this is pure delusion.

What they eat

White tigers, being predatory animals, like ordinary tigers, feed on components of animal origin, although in the summer, tigers eat hazelnuts and various vegetation with pleasure. Females, in addition to the meat diet, can eat fish, but males do not eat fish. To catch prey, white tigers, like any other predators, approach their potential prey imperceptibly, on half-bent legs, making slow movements. These predators show their activity both in the daytime and after dark. White tigers in one jump, up to 5 meters high, cover a distance of up to 10 meters.

The basis of the diet of such predators are ungulates, but often they have to be content with smaller animals such as hares, monkeys, pheasants, etc. For normal life, a white tiger needs to eat up to fifty wild animals, or even more, throughout the year.

An interesting moment! At one time the tiger eats about 3 tens of kilograms of meat, otherwise he will not be able to get enough.

Living in captivity, tigers receive food 6 times a week, while the basis of the diet is fresh meat, as well as meat by-products of various origins. From time to time, tigers receive live food in the form of rabbits and chickens, which helps to preserve the hunting instincts of these animals. One day a week is unloading, which allows the predator to maintain its physical shape. Tigers can go hungry for a while because they have some fat reserves.

White tiger attack

Watch this video on YouTube

Reproduction and offspring

White tigers mate sometime in the month of December/January, with one male usually following one female. If a rival appears, then they have to win the right to fertilize the female by entering fights. The process of the female’s readiness for intimacy with males is quite fleeting, but the urges are constantly manifested after a certain period of time. The first time the female becomes pregnant somewhere at the age of 3 or 4, while the next pregnancy can occur only after a couple of years. The female bears her offspring for about 4 months and somewhere in March / April, they are born.

As a rule, from 2 to 4 cubs are born, weighing up to one and a half kilograms. Tiger cubs do not see during the first week of life. For the first month and a half of their lives, cubs feed exclusively on their mother’s milk. The female does not allow males to her offspring, since an adult male can kill them and simply eat them.

After 2 months of life, the cubs begin to leave the den more and more often together with the tigress, but the cubs become completely independent only after reaching one and a half years of their life, while they can remain with their mother until puberty. Having become completely independent and ready to breed, males leave their mother in search of free territories, while females can stay close to their mother.

Natural enemies

White tigers, like ordinary tigers, have practically no enemies among predatory animals under natural conditions. If a tiger can become a victim of a buffalo, an elephant or a rhinoceros, then only by accident. Therefore, the main enemy of white tigers was and is a man, as well as various natural disasters.

Population and species status

White tigers were first discovered around 1951 when a hunter from a tiger den retrieved a male tiger cub. This male was later used when crossing with ordinary tigresses in order to obtain offspring with an unusual color. Such attempts have not been successful. There was a time when white tiger populations increased markedly, but in 19In 59, hunters shot the last white tiger living in the natural environment. To date, white tigers are kept exclusively in captivity in India mainly. Their number is only about a hundred individuals, therefore, white tigers are listed in the Red Book.

In conclusion

Human life, especially in recent times, is quite stormy, which causes significant harm to wildlife. And these are only indirect human actions that are not associated with commercial production of especially valuable species for humans. Unfortunately, some species of animals are not entirely lucky, because they have a fairly valuable, and sometimes very beautiful, attractive appearance. The color of the white tiger is just that. He is unique. Therefore, it was highly valued among rich people, which stimulated the activities of hunters and poachers, for whom money is everything. It is not at all surprising that these predators began to be caught for various zoos around the world. As a result, the logical chain closed and the white tiger in our time can only be seen in captivity. Despite the fact that these predators are able to breed in captivity, it makes no sense to release them into their natural environment, where even ordinary tigers have a hard time. It is most likely that they will not survive, as traditional habitats have been significantly reduced in recent times. In addition, poachers are just waiting for something unique to appear in nature that will allow them to earn a lot of money. Therefore, we can safely say that a white tiger that finds itself in its natural environment has practically no chance of survival.