White Tiger

Quick Take

• White tigers look like nature's blank canvas, but their striking coloration comes with a hidden biological cost that shortens their lives. See the biological cost →
• Their white fur is famously rare, though it is actually a survival liability in the wild rather than an advantage. Explore the camouflage disadvantage →
• Despite ranging across an entire subcontinent, a single quirk of genetics explains why white tigers may never appear in the wild again. Discover the recessive gene →
• Humans didn't just hunt white tigers. A different, quieter obsession may have done even more damage to the species. Explore human interbreeding history →

The White Tiger is one of the most versatile and adaptable predators in the Asian jungle, as it is not only incredibly quick and agile at running but is also a very capable swimmer, allowing it to breach natural boundaries such as rivers and wetlands.

3 Amazing White Tiger Facts

• White tigers are not albinos since their fur possesses a degree of pigment.
• Although they once roamed throughout India and neighboring countries, no white tiger has been sighted in the last 50 years.
• Owing to their mutated genes as well as the lack of genetic diversity caused by inbreeding, white tigers are believed to have shorter lifespans compared to their relatives.

Classification and Evolution

The White Tiger (also known as the White Bengal Tiger) is a genetic variation of the Tiger, found throughout the Indian subcontinent. Although the range of the White Tiger has historically been very large, these animals are incredibly rare because their coloration depends on a recessive gene passed on by their parents. Over the past couple of centuries, the White Tiger has become even rarer in the wild due to trophy hunting or capture for the exotic pet trade, with no recorded sightings of these elusive predators for the past 50 years. Today, the White Tiger can still be found in a handful of zoos and animal sanctuaries around the world, with these large and beautiful felines often being the star attraction.

Along with the White Tiger, the Bengal Tiger is considered one of the largest types of tiger in the world, with Siberian tigers holding the record for the largest individual tiger ever documented. White tigers occur primarily in Bengal tigers, one of the two recognized tiger subspecies (Continental and Sunda).

Anatomy and Appearance

The White Tiger is a large and powerful animal that can weigh up to 230 kg (510 lbs) and reach more than 9.8 feet (3 meters) in length. Unlike the white variations found in other animal species, the White White tigers are not albinos, as their white coat is caused by a genetic variation called leucism rather than a total absence of pigment. Unlike true albinos, white tigers lack only the pigment pheomelanin — responsible for orange fur in typical Bengal tigers — while still retaining eumelanin, the dark pigment that produces their distinctive stripes and blue eyes.

Like other Tigers, the White Tiger has black or dark brown stripes that run vertically along its body, the pattern of which is unique to each individual tiger. Along with the change in fur color, the gene carried by the White Tiger’s parents also means that they have blue eyes rather than the green or yellow colored eyes of normal Bengal Tigers. Despite the beauty of the White Tiger’s fur, it does in fact give these individuals a disadvantage, as they are not easily camouflaged in the surrounding jungle.

Distribution and Habitat

The Bengal Tiger would once have been found throughout much of India and the surrounding countries, but its range has decreased dramatically, particularly over the past 100 years or so. Today the Bengal Tiger is found in small pockets of its natural habitat in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, and although populations are severely declining, they remain the most numerous Tiger species in the world. They are found in a variety of habitats including tropical forests, mangrove swamps, and moist jungles that generally support dense vegetation and have a good source of fresh water.

Although the White Tiger could once be found in the wild, it is very rare for the gene-carrying parents to actually mate, and with the rapidly declining numbers of Bengal Tigers throughout their natural range, the chances of White Tigers being produced are becoming smaller every day.

Behavior and Lifestyle

Like other Tiger species, the White Tiger is a solitary animal, as this allows this large predator to sneak up on prey more effectively in the dense jungle. Although the White Tiger is not nocturnal, it carries out the majority of its hunting at night, as this also helps them to hunt more successfully. White Tigers have incredible hearing and sight, which, along with their stealth, helps them when hunting in the jungle in the dark.

Each Tiger occupies a large territory that is marked by urine and claw marks on trees, and can be up to 75 square miles in size. Despite the fact that they are solitary animals except during the mating season, male White Tiger territories can overlap with those of a number of females, particularly in areas with high prey density. Male White Tigers will, however, defend their patch fiercely from other males who may be trying to steal their spot.

Reproduction and Life Cycles

For a White Tiger to be born, both of its parents must carry the recessive gene. Male and female White Tigers attract each other by roaring and scent-marking, and once mated, the male and female go their separate ways. After a gestation period that lasts for around 3 and a half months, the female White Tiger gives birth to up to 5 cubs, which are blind and weigh roughly 2.2 lbs (1 kg) each and can have either white or orange fur.

The White Tiger cubs suckle their mother’s milk and begin eating meat she has caught for them at around 2 months old, then are weaned four months later. The White Tiger cubs begin to accompany their mother hunting and eventually leave her and begin their solitary life in the jungle when they are about 18 months of age. White Tigers have an average lifespan of 12 years, which can be longer in captivity.

Diet and Prey

Like other tiger species, the White Tiger is a carnivore that hunts and eats other animals to meet its nutritional needs. The White Tiger is an apex predator in its environment, hunting its prey by stalking it stealthily in the darkness of night. The White Tiger primarily hunts large, herbivorous animals including Deer, Wild Boar, Cattle, and Goats that feed both in the jungle and on its outskirts.

The White Tiger has several adaptations to help it to both catch and kill its prey, including great strength, incredible speed, and long, sharp claws and teeth. With growing Human settlements pushing the White Bengal Tiger into smaller and smaller pockets of its historical range, they are also commonly known to hunt and kill livestock, with tigers entering villages also becoming increasingly common.

Predators and Threats

In its natural environment, the White Tiger has no predators due to the fact that it is such a big and powerful animal itself. They are, however, severely affected by people and have been for hundreds of years, as they have been both captured and hunted for their beauty, and have lost a significant portion of their historical range to deforestation for both growing Human settlements and agriculture. With the loss of forest, there is also a decline in the White Tiger’s prey, so populations are becoming increasingly harder to sustain.

The fact that the few Bengal Tigers that remain in the wild are becoming more and more isolated means that there is less of a chance that White Tigers will be produced, and this, coupled with the severe declines in population numbers, could mean that White Tigers have disappeared from the wild forever.

Interesting Facts and Features

Oddly enough, the White Tiger is thought to have a slightly shorter life expectancy than the normal Bengal Tiger. Although there is no evidence of this in the wild, captive studies conclude that it is due to the White Tiger’s mutated genes and to the inbreeding that is required to continue breeding the White Tiger in captivity. One of the biggest reasons for White Tigers becoming rarer and rarer in the wild is the fact that they were often captured by the rich, who kept them as exotic pets.

Relationship with Humans

Since they were first brought into captivity, White Tigers have been interbred by Humans in a business that is morally questionable and purely profit-based. Since then, the white tiger is thought to have disappeared completely from the wild, as there have been no confirmed sightings since the mid-1900s. Although it is simply a question of two gene-carrying individuals mating, the fact that people have hunted them and taken over much of their natural habitat means that the chances of this happening are not very high.

There is an issue, however, with increasing instances of Bengal Tigers actually entering Human settlements, which causes problems between the Tiger and the villagers. Because Tigers are becoming increasingly vulnerable animals, it is illegal to shoot them, and so they often return to the same village night after night.

Conservation Status and Life Today

The White Tiger is a Bengal Tiger, which is a species listed by the IUCN as Endangered and therefore severely threatened in its surrounding environment. Estimates of around 100,000 Tigers found in the jungles and mangrove swamps of Asia were made at the beginning of the 1900s, but today there are thought to be only around 5,574 Tigers in the wild. There are no White Tiger individuals known to be found outside of captivity.