Photo of white tigers born in Mexico

Photo of white tigers born in Mexico

Photo of white tigers born in Mexico
mongabay.com
July 5, 2007

Five white Bengal tigers born in April were put on display at the Guadalajara Zoo in Mexico reports the Associated Press.

AP Photo/Guillermo Arias.

Four of the cubs are white. It is the sixth litter of white tigers born at the facility — all sired to the same father, named Nino. A white tiger born at the zoo attacked Las Vegas entertainer Roy Horn of the Siegfried and Roy act in 2003. Horn, attacked on his 59th birthday at the The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, suffered serious injuries that required more than 3 years of rehabilitation.

White Bengal tigers are not albino. They are Bengal tigers with a genetic variation that causes their normally orange fur to be white in color. According to Wikipedia, white tigers are born larger, grow faster, and attain larger adult sizes than orange tigers. Stripeless or snow white tigers are also known to exist.

The gene for white fur is recessive, meaning that captive white tigers are usually inbred to retain their color between generations.



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