This Fun Facts About White Tiger – Many people are afraid of tigers because they are considered as an aggressive and dangerous animal. Even though, as a member of the Panthera families, this animal actually has some species that can be considered as something quite special. It is the white tiger.
Even though the tiger itself is quite common, the white tiger is quite special because there are some facts about white tiger that only few people have known. If you are interested, here are 17 facts about this species of tiger that you might have missed.
Read: Fact about black panther
List of the Interesting Facts about White Tiger
1. Not Albino
Facts about White Tiger: Not Albino
The first fact that you need to know is that they are not albino. There are a lot of cases of albino animals. Yet, the white tiger is not one of those albino cases in the animal.
The reason is because albino is actually the color of the skin, not the fur. Meanwhile, in white tigers, they have the same skin with the other species of tiger. However, the color of their fur is white and semi-grey.
Read: Facts abaout jaguar
2. Hunting Area
The second one from the facts about white tiger is the hunting area of the white tiger. It is true that the white tiger is a great predator on the land.
However, there are only few people who realize that the white tiger is also a good swimmer. That is why this species of tiger is able to hunt even on the water. Of course, the depth takes a great role over its hunting process on the water.
Read: Random fact about animals
3. Hunting Habit
The hunting habit of white tigers is fully determined by its prey. There are times when the white tigers hunt the bigger prey such as buffalo. If the buffalo is down and ready to eat, the white tigers will not find another prey until there is no meat remaining.
The bones should be the only one left behind from the buffalo. The white tigers can easily spend three days to a week before hunting for another prey. It is because they usually finish eating their prey after several days.
4. Large Roaming Area
The white tigers need a large and vast roaming area as a professional hunter. This one is the next facts about white tiger that you might have missed. You cannot easily find the white tigers within the range of 20 square miles.
That is the minimum roaming and hunting area that the white tiger needs. Even if there are some white tigers in one area, the numbers will be quite limited in a pack.
5. Very Efficient Hunter
Unlike the Bengal tiger that can easily blend with the surrounding, the white tigers are a bit different. They do not have a chance to hunt on the vast and empty area such as a savanna.
That is why you usually find the white tigers around the forest area. However, the white tigers can use their surrounding perfectly. As the result, they can hide and hunt for the prey within an instant.
6. High Mortality Rate
White tiger is placed on the top of the food chain. Yet, the mortality rate of the white tiger is quite high. This is one of the reasons why the number of white tigers could not rise climbed easily. Based on many surveys, there will be at least one white tiger cubs that die within less than a year after being born.
This part of the facts about white tiger is quite shocking. If a white tigress gives birth to three cubs, then the survivors will only be two. The mortality rate is reaching 33 percent.
7. White Tigress Attention to the Cubs
The next one is the attention of the white tigress to cubs. Basically, the white tiger should be able to hunt on the age of 18 months.
Yet, the white tigress will not let the grown-up cubs to leave the pack until they reach the age of two to three years. Upon reaching that age, the grown-up cubs will leave the pack on their own.
8. Spayed and Neutered
In the wild, the white tigers can mate once the mating season comes. On the other hand, inside the zoo, most of the white tigers will be spayed and neutered. For your information, from all of the zoos that take care of the white tigers, more than three fourth of them are against breeding the white tiger.
The reason is still unclear. Yet, there are speculations that breeding the white tiger inside the artificial habitants will not do any good. That is why many of the zookeepers are against it.
9. Unique Body Marks
The unique body marks become the next facts about white tiger you might have missed. Human has fingerprints that are different between each other.
Meanwhile, the white tigers have the unique body marks to differentiate one white tiger with the others. This is also one thing that affects the next fact about this species of tiger.
10. Very Expensive Skin
You should have known that the price of the white tiger skin is very expensive, even more expensive than the Bengal tiger. That is because each of those tigers has their own unique marks like nothing else.
Besides that, there are some white tigers with no stripes at all and the price of their skin is far more expensive. The problem is that the case happened to less than 40 percents of the population of the white tigers in the world.
11. Fighting Among White Tigers
Fighting among the other big white cats is something very common. The facts about white tiger have been known by many people. Yet, there are only few people who understand the reason. The white tigers usually have a fight with the other white tigers about their territory.
During the daytime, the white tigers usually roam around the area to make sure there is no other white tiger around the area. If there is any, they will fight for the territory.
12. Excellent Hearing and Vision
During the daytime, white tigers will usually check their territory. During the nighttime, they will begin hunting. Because they have to hunt silently at night, the white tigers have developed the excellent hearing and vision skills. This is why they can easily see their prey in the darkest night because of the excellent vision and hearing.
13. The First White Tiger Named Mohan
It is not easy to find the very first animal of an animal family or even species. However, this one is slightly different with the white tiger. Back in 1800s, there was a white tiger found by the local in India. He named the tiger Mohan and this is the next facts about white tiger.
This white tiger named Mohan was believed to be specially treated as the parent of the other white tigers. That is because Mohan was used to breed the next generation of the white tigers. That is why a lot of people believed that the white tigers nowadays can be traced back leading to Mohan.
14. Unethically Breed Causes Birth Defect
Basically, there are some zoos that are trying to breed the white tiger. Unfortunately, this is not something easy to do. As the result, they are usually bred unethically.
This can be a real problem because the cubs usually born with the birth defect. The parents are getting older and more prone, but the number of the white tiger is not increasing because of the birth defect.
15. Low Immune System
The white tigers are very strong. Yet, their immune system is not that good. Some people even consider the low immune system of the white tigers as one of the facts about white tiger.
There were some cases where the white tigers have to be put down through the anesthetic process. The cause is quite simple. It is because their body could not handle the sedated process needed to help them recover from certain health problems.
16. Pet White Tigers Will Not Lose Its Instinct
Some people think that white tigers that have been raised as pets will not attack human. That is something rational, especially if the white tigers have been petted since a cub. However, that is not going to happen because the white tigers have natural instinct.
There was an accident when a white tiger from the zoo attacked human who was shocked to see the white tiger set loose. During that condition, the tiger bit the throat and the person could not be saved.
17. The Extinction of White Tiger
The last one from facts about white tiger is the fact that this animal is going to extinct soon. White tiger is considered as one of the species that are endangered. You cannot deny this one because the number of white tigers in the wild is very limited.
For your information, in the wild there are less than 100 sights of the white tigers in a year. That number is very small because this big cat was expected to have the total number of 10,000 in 1900s.
White tigers are one of the majestic big cats that are close to extinct. With the rising amount of animals that are extinct, this is why a lot of people as well as organizations have been trying to keep them alive. However, with the declining number of population based on data, it is quite normal to say that the white tiger is going to extinct soon.
After knowing all of those facts above, you surely learn that white tiger is something special from the family of Panthera. So, from all of those facts about white tiger, have you heard any other facts that are not yet listed?
