Extremely rare images of tigers with special fur in India

Recently, Parveen Kaswan, an employee of the Indian Forest Department, shared rare images of some tigers with strange black fur, instead of the usual black and yellow striped fur. Kaswan said that these tigers are currently living in the Simlipal Nature Reserve (Odisha state, India).

"The Black Tigers of India. Did you know that these black-coated tigers are found in the Simlipal Reserve. They have such a special coat due to a genetic mutation and are very rare. This creature is so beautiful," Parveen Kaswan shared on her personal page X (formerly Twitter).

Parveen Kaswan said that information about a black-furred tiger was first recorded in 1993. Specifically, on July 21, 1993, a boy named Salku, living in Podagad village in Simlipal reserve, saw a tiger with unusual black fur. It was not until 2007 that the image of a black-furred tiger was captured for the first time by a camera trap in Simlipal.

According to the 2018 tiger census report, the number of black tigers has decreased sharply. However, it is worth mentioning that 70% of the world's black tigers are in Odisha.

Of the total population, most of them can be found in the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha. However, they are still very rare individuals.

According to scientists, black tigers have a distinctive appearance due to a genetic mutation called pseudomelanism, in which their dark stripes become thick and close together on their pale orange-yellow fur, often giving their fur an unusually dark appearance.

Further explaining this issue, the Indian Express previously reported: "Researchers combined genetic analyses of other tiger populations from India and data from computer simulations to show that the Similipal black tigers may have arisen from a very small, isolated and inbred newly established tiger population."

Revealing the reason behind tigers staying only in Odisha, wildlife experts and scientists at the Wildlife Institute of India, said that it is a place with a lot of forests and diverse habitats, as a result tigers do not feel the need to move from this place.

Minh Hoa (t/h according to Dan Tri, Dan Viet)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/hinh-anh-cuc-hiem-ve-nhung-con-ho-co-bo-long-dac-biet-o-an-do-a647747.html