White tiger is a tiger with chalk-white fur and chocolate-brown or black stripes. White tigers also have distinctive blue eyes. All other tigers have yellow eyes. White tigers are not a separate species of tiger, nor are they albinos . Rather, these individuals carry two copies of a specific gene that causes their white appearance. Genes are the units of inheritance that determine which characteristics living things receive from their parents.
White tigers are extremely rare in the wild. More than 100 white tigers live in the world’s zoos . They are all descendants of a white cub caught in India in 1951.
Whiteness in tigers is a recessive trait—that is, a tiger will only be white if it inherits two copies of the gene for whiteness, one from each parent. The gene for whiteness is quite rare. To provide the best chance of white cubs, breeders often cross tigers that are closely related. This practice, an example of inbreeding, has led to many cubs being born with serious birth defects.
