How Many White Tigers Are Left?

Question

Are they still almost extinct? How close are they? Like, do they know or have a guess on how much longer until there gone?

Answer 1

White Tiger (Panthera tigris) is a tiger with a genetic condition that nearly eliminates pigment in the normally orange fur although they still have dark stripes. This occurs when a tiger inherits two copies of the recessive gene for the paler coloration: pink nose, grey-mottled skin, ice-blue eyes, and white to cream-coloured fur with black, grey, or chocolate-coloured stripes. (Another genetic condition also makes the stripes of the tiger very pale; white tigers of this type are called snow-white.)

White tigers do not constitute a separate subspecies of their own and can breed with orange ones, although all of the resulting offspring will be heterozygous for the recessive white gene, and their fur will be orange. The only exception would be if the orange parent was itself already a heterozygous tiger, which would give each cub a 50% chance of being either double-recessive white or heterozygous orange.

Currently, several hundred white tigers are in captivity worldwide with about 100 of them in India, and their numbers are on the increase.

White tigers rarely occur in the wild. Because it is a double recessive gene it has to be passed on in the family. In regular tiger behavior the animals do not mate with their close relatives. White tigers would find it hard to survive in the wild. Few would make it to adulthood (either do to birth defects, more on those later; or because the coloring would make them stick out). Those that did make it to adulthood would have trouble hunting. The coloring would make it impossible to camouflage, so the prey would notice them before they got within striking range.

All white tigers are now bred in captivity, often by inbreeding parents and cubs to ensure the presence of the recessive gene. Such inbreeding often also leads to birth defects.

Answer 2

There are only around 200 of the white tigers left in the world. White tigers are an Asian species, found from the frozen tundra of the Soviet Far East, south to the humid jungles of Malaya and Indonesia, and west to the hot, hardwood forests of India. There are five living subspecies; three others are already extinct. Current estimates put the world population of wild tigers at about 5,000-7,000, the most numerous race being the Bengal race, distributed among some 18 tiger reserves and sanctuaries of India (and a half-dozen in Nepal and Bangladesh), accounting for over two-thirds of all wild tigers.

Tigers are a protected species all over the world. Even though it's completely illegal to hunt them, people are still slaying these beautiful creatures.

Answer 3

Tigers are an endangered species, due to hunting and habitat destruction by humans. There have always been far fewer white tigers than normally coloured ones - that is the natural state of affairs. White tigers are not a different species or subspecies, but are simply Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) with a genetic condition called leucism, which results in reduced pigmentation. It is not the same as albinism, which is a complete lack of pigment - an albino tiger is all white, with no stripes, and has pink eyes, not blue. Leucism is rare in the wild because it is passed on by recessive genes, and is generally detrimental to the animal. Most white individuals born do not survive to adulthood, since their colour makes them stand out to predators whilst they are young and vulnerable. Those that do make it to adulthood have a hard time hunting for the same reason - their colour makes it easier for their prey to see them coming. However, white tigers are common in captivity as they are a draw for zoos and wildlife parks. Sadly, this has led to some unscrupulous breeding in the past - many captive white tigers are now inbred, and suffer the detrimental effects.