Ignore the mutant orchid, the mutant tiger is really precious!

According to WWF, modern tigers have 9 subspecies, but there are tigers that have a completely different appearance and color than the 9 known subspecies, and they are considered as mutant tigers.

Tiger is an animal that appears in the long-standing culture of Asian countries, especially in Vietnam, tigers are always objects of fear and their images often represent strength and courage. . White tiger is one of the four beasts in Vietnamese and Chinese mythology. in addition, the white tiger is also considered a Western beast, originating from the ancient custom of worshiping stars.

Unlike most mythical animals, the white tiger actually exists in real life. This is a rare variant of the tiger - mainly showing that the original background color of orange has become white.

In fact, this type of mutant tiger is not only white tiger, but also pure white tiger, snow tiger, yellow tiger, and so on. In particular, the golden tiger is one of four extremely rare mutations in tigers.

Real white tigers exist in real life.

Basic taxonomy of tigers

The international mainstream theory believes that tigers were born on Earth about 2 million years ago, and by 110,000 years ago they were rapidly distributed across the Asian continent, experiencing habitat isolation, variability, and variability. climate, genetic drift and natural selection. and gradually differentiated into many subspecies.

Even the extinct species, modern tigers can be divided into 9 subspecies, namely: Siberian tiger, South China tiger, Bengal tiger, Indochinese tiger, Malayan tiger, Sumatran tiger, Javan tiger, Bali tiger Caspian tiger. Of these 9 tiger types, the tiger subspecies living inland will have a larger body than the tiger living on the island.

Species with black numbers are extinct species.

The ancestor of the modern tiger is the ancient Chinese cat. In 2015, a DNA-based study demonstrated that the South China tiger is the oldest branch of the modern tiger, which confirms the hypothesis that the modern tiger originated in East Asia.

After the arrival of modern tigers, there were hardly any super-sized predators on Earth that could compete with them, which helped tigers spread rapidly, creating the basis for the division of subspecies. Future.

In fact, in the primitive Earth environment, the distribution pattern of the mainland and islands was not as we see it now, they could be separated only by a shallow trench or even connected by trees. bridge on land. Only in subsequent environmental changes did the land bridge sink, and the trench became a strait. Therefore, there are subspecies of tigers living on islands instead of mainland.

The ancestor of the modern tiger is the ancient Chinese cat.

Mutant Tiger

From the 9 tiger subspecies mentioned above, it can be seen that the white tiger is very different, so which tiger is the white tiger?

In fact, the white tiger is not an independent tiger subspecies but a genetic mutation of a normal tiger, to be precise, a harmless gene mutation that will not have any harmful effects on the body. except for changes in coat color.

Of course, this type of mutation is very difficult to survive in the wild because it is so conspicuous, which leads to inefficient hunting and it can completely starve to death. Currently, white tigers only exist in Bengal tigers, in artificial captivity, the probability of white tigers appearing is much higher than in the wild.

In fact, the white tiger is not an independent tiger subspecies but a genetic mutation.

Due to a genetic mutation, tigers lack the pigment phenylalanine methyl ester, which makes their fur white, but their black stripes are not affected, so the overall appearance of white tigers is mainly brown stripes on a white background. Apart from the color factor, they are no different from a common Bengal tiger.

Snow tiger is another variation on the basis of white tiger.

Snow tiger is another variation on the basis of white tiger, the main feature is that even the stripes on its body are much lighter in color, almost like white, but if you look closely, you can still see shadows. of stripes.

Like the pure white tiger, as the name suggests, it is pure white, and the markings on its body also turn white. The golden tiger is a beautiful variation of the tiger that mainly exhibits light brown stripes on a yellow background.

The golden tiger is a beautiful variation of the tiger that mainly exhibits light brown stripes on a yellow background.

White tiger is a recessive gene mutation, the probability of occurrence is very low, about 10,000 tiger cubs only occurs in one case. Some may ask, since mutant tigers are so rare, why are they so often seen in zoos?

Almost all white tigers survive in zoos in most major cities, mainly for economic reasons. Ordinary tigers are known to everyone and do not feel curious, and tigers with more bizarre appearance will of course attract more attention.

Because the white trait is a recessive gene expression, if two white tigers are taken as parents, their offspring will also be white tigers.

The probability of occurrence of the yellow tiger is much smaller than that of the white tiger.

Compared to white tigers, the probability of occurrence of yellow tigers is even smaller, under the influence of genetic mutations, its original coat color from orange becomes bright yellow, the original dark brown patches become brown. bland. And the white hair on the belly is getting longer and longer, the overall look is very gorgeous.

By observing the appearance of the golden tiger, some scholars believe that it may be the prototype of Guoshan Huang in the legend of Shen Nong Jia.

Legend has it that Guoshan Huang is as big as a tiger, looks like a tiger, is very fast, and crosses the mountain like a wind, leaving only a yellow afterimage.

 Normally, mutant tigers rarely live past full adulthood.

In the past, a South Chinese tiger in Shennongjia may have given birth to a small golden tiger with a genetic mutation. Although thought to be a harmless mutant, due to their conspicuous appearance and difficulty in hunting, they cannot compete with other tigers, so they can only live in areas the periphery of a favorable habitat, which increases the probability of encountering humans. But normally mutant tigers rarely live past full adulthood because they face many difficulties in hunting.