Stripeless white tiger

White tigers. You might have seen them in circuses and thought they were freaks of nature, but really, they are just a rare form of tiger, and when you have one without stripes, it can’t get rarer than that.

A white Bengal tiger was recently born without any stripes in South Africa. The 6 month old cub named Fareeda, is the offspring of 2 white Bengal tigers. I used to think white Bengal tigers were albino but actually they used to naturally occur in northern India, although still very rare at that. Most of the white tigers have been carefully inbred to preserve the line.

Currently there are only a few hundred white tigers in the world, either in zoos or circuses. There are also a few other stripeless white tigers existing, although they mostly have very pale stripes which can be seen in the sun. Fareeda is unique in having almost no stripes at all.

Photo credit: CATERS

“When she was born Fareeda had noticeably pale colour it did cause a stir of excitement amongst the staff. But we knew there was the possibility of the cub’s very light black and ginger stripes darkening over time existed.”

“Most white Bengal tigers are bred in the US from a single male captured in the 1950s, but Fareeda is the first to be born in Africa, which is very special,” said Odette Claassen, a keeper from the wildlife ranch where Fareeda was born.

Fareeda is specially hand reared as are all white tigers in captivity, to preserve this unique type of tiger from disappearing from the face of the earth. Actually she was born on Christmas Day last year, but her keepers waited until now to be sure that she really was a tiger without stripes (tigers may be born without stripes, but develop them later on).

Currently, there are just a handful of stripeless tigers in the world.

Source: Telegraph UK