White tigers are of very little conservation value. Indeed, I would go as far as to say they have no conservation value.
To breed these animals and say it is for conservation value is a bit like saying breeding pugs helps us protect wolves in the wild. No one would ever try to repopulate wild wolf populations with pugs, but many people think that white tigers would have a good chance of making it in the wild.
They won’t. Name me another species of large cat that has a white coloration like this. The so-called “white lions” do NOT count. They are white in the same way that white golden retrievers are white. They still have enough camouflage to survive in the wild, and wild ones have been found and still exist to this day.
Indeed, they are not part of any species survival plan studbook.
And the weight of the evidence suggests that they all descend from a single cub found in India.
Contrary to popular belief, Amur (“Siberian”) tigers are not white. Below is an Amur tiger. (The Amur subspecies does not technically live in Siberia now, which is why I call it the Amur tiger. However, its historical range once extended west from its current range in to what the Russian call Siberia to the Caspian Sea. At one time, the Caspian population was called a separate subspecies.)
I noticed that the white tiger apologist crowd has infiltrated the wikipedia entry on them. Most of these people are in favor of “tiger milling,” which is breeding mongrel tigers of all sorts of colors to sell to unsuspecting members of the public for exorbitant prices. I suppose this is a little bit better than the people who factory farm tigers for their penises.
The only tigers that should be bred in captivity are those in species survival plan studbooks and actually belong to recognized subspecies. No white tiger meets this criteria, and its white coat is a major hindrance to living in the wild.
Of course, none of that matters when the only thing that matters is $$$.
And while we’re wasting money on white tiger poppycock, the real tiger in Asia is losing its habitat at an alarming rate. Its skins and body parts are still worth some money on the black market.
But no one cares– just so long as we got the white ‘uns, the rubes will keep paying to see them.
I like my tigers orange with black stripes or maybe brown stripes, if they are of the Amur subspecies.
I would like to do a print of the photo of the Amur tiger you have. Did you take this picture, or if not, where can I find the original photographer?
Thanks!
“Mongrel” tigers? Do you honestly think tigers care at all what color coat their mate has? They don’t care if it’s white, golden, albino, or normal. If tigers knew what racist was, I think they’d deem you as a tiger racist. The Siberian tiger would have no disadvantages being white, look at the things around them-WHITE polar bears, WHITE arctic foxes, WHITE (rarely black) arctic wolves.
Okay.
Name me a tiger that lives in the arctic.
The Amur or Siberian tiger DOES NOT count.
It lives in cold forests. All of them are normal tiger colors.
Color actually has a lot to do with mate preference in wild animals. Lions prefer a male with a big, dark mane.
Kerrie,
Please do some research, a tiger being “white” is a genetic flaw basically, it is due to a double recessive gene. The problem with all the hype about saving the “white tiger” is that breeding solely to obtain a “white” colored offspring actually is about only a 25% chance, light orange, off colored or other “undesired” animals are usually killed. Also, this type of breeding leads to “in breeding” and causes lots of health problems, clef pallet, mental issues like slowness and lack of being able to use their natural instincts as they were intended.
The “rare white tigers” seen in the wild are a production of two tigers who both carry that gene mating, it doesn’t mean all their offspring will be white though. So yes, as they are rare, they in no way should be breed just for color, it causes so many other tigers to be born into this world with problems, slaughtered by their breeders, and they are not their own species of tiger to begin with. This is what happens when humans interfere with the breeding of wild animals for profit!
Places like the San Diego Zoo have white tigers, on display, I believe one of theirs was found by Border Patrol trying to be smuggled, yet those tigers are not part of the Zoo’s breeding program to help maintain population.
Its amazing what a mess we’ve created with this animal!