White Tiger
Description
Panthera tigris tigris
The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the mainland tiger. Compared to orange tigers these white tigers tend to be larger at birth and as adults. Rewa, a princely state in Central India, was well-known as a centre for breeding white tigers in captivity. The lineage of these white tigers began with a tiger named Mohan, who was captured as a cub in 1951 by Maharaja Shri Martand Singh of Rewa. Mohan died in 1970, aged almost 20. He was the last recorded white tiger born in the wild. The white tigress we have at the museum is Lakshmi, a descendant of Mohan. She was purchased by the Bombay Zoo, the present Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, in 1966, from the Maharaja of Rewa. Like Lakshmi, all the white tigers in various zoos around the world are descendants of Mohan. The only exceptions to this are the three white tigers born in the Orissa Zoo in 1980, to a pair of normal-coloured tigers unrelated to Mohan. The white tiger is listed as endangered under IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and is severely threatened; therefore, the only remaining species are in captivity.
Collection
Natural History
Object Type
Mammal
Material
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Schools/Culture/Period
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Technique
Taxidermy
Date
20th Century CE
Location
Rewa, Madhya Pradesh