Watch Video: Extremely Rare Tiger With A Genetic Condition Spotted in Odisha
Melanistic tigers are extremely rare and their population is declining due to habitat loss and poaching.
Indian Forest Service officer and Inspector General of Forests in India's Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, Ramesh Pandey, on Tuesday posted a video of a melanistic tiger on his Twitter account.
Pandey tweeted, "Beautiful camera trap video of a melanistic tiger in Similipal Tiger Reserve, Odisha, the only place where we see blackish tigers because of genetic mutations in the population." In another tweet, he added, "Mutation is a phenomenon which happens in DNAs of organisms. It’s kind of spelling mistake what geneticists say to explain in simpler words." Watch video here
A user pointed out that this particular tiger was killed due to a fight with another tiger. To which Pandey replied, "There are not only one or two melanistic tigers in Similipal. A substantial population is melanistic."
What is a Melanistic Tiger
A melanistic tiger is sometimes also referred to as a black tiger with a condition known as melanism. This causes the animal's body to produce an excess of melanin which is the pigment that gives colour to the skin, hair, and eyes of humans and animals. In tigers, this can give their fur a much darker appearance, sometimes even black, and their typical stripes may be less visible or completely difficult to see.
The actual melanistic tigers are extremely rare and not much evidence exists regarding their occurrence in the wild. The exact reason for the high concentration of melanistic tigers in this area is not known, but it is thought to be due to a combination of genetic factors and environmental conditions.
Melanistic tigers are not considered to be a separate species or subspecies, and they are not any more or less dangerous than regular tigers. However, they are very rare, and their population is declining due to habitat loss and poaching.
In popular culture, the term "black tiger" might also be used to refer to a tiger with pseudo-melanism, a variant of normal colouration where the orange parts of the tiger's body are heavily striped, thus making the animal look darker. However, this condition is different from true melanism.
