The golden tiger is described as a “mutant” by Sarah Hartwell. They are the result of the “expression of recessive (hidden) genes [which] show up when there is too much inbreeding”.
It takes inbreeding for the golden tiger to be created and this individual was spotted in the Assam Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in India. The report is that it’s the first sighting in almost 3 years. You’re much likelier to see the golden tiger in a zoo where they are deliberately created by inbreeding to entertain paying customers as are white tigers which are also inbreed and unhealthy.
The reason why you see them very rarely in the wild is because these mutants are less likely to survive as they are subject to natural selection. And in days gone by they were shot by hunters because they were unusual which may have prevented some mutant bloodlines from developing.
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The photograph on this page of the golden tiger was taken by a 25-year-old tour guide and wildlife photographer, Gaurav Ramnarayan. I hope that he does not mind that I am publishing his photograph here, today but if he does can he please leave a note and I will deal with it.
The photographer was guiding two Australian tourists in the park’s Bagori range at the time. The tiger appeared about 2000 feet away and approached to around 200 feet of the tourists at which point the photograph was taken.
This particular mutant trait is often called “wideband”. Sarah Hartwell, a cat geneticist, says that the “gold colour is due to a recessive mutation, analogous to wide-band in domestic cats”. That’s where the tag “wideband” comes from.
The genetic mutation increases the width of the pale bands in each hair strand. The rich orange colour, the trademark of the tiger, becomes pale gold forming “a red saddle pattern”.
The stripes are red-brown to dark brown while the normally pale areas become white. The recessive gene affects the structure of the fur itself as it become softer than that of a standard, orange Bengal tiger. Also, golden tigers are larger than regular Bengal tigers as is the case with the white tiger.
As to anatomical deficiencies, “their pelvic girdles and lumbar vertebrae” tend to have problems.
They are considered to be a type of Bengal tiger. Among captive golden tigers most of them have Siberian tiger blood as breeders of tigers didn’t keep their bloodlines pure.
Naturally, conservationists are concerned about the sighting because as mentioned it signals a conservation problem and one which may indicate the gradual journey to extinction in the wild of the Bengal tiger in India.
The rarity of the golden tiger is one in 10,000 cubs born at best. The inbreeding is a result of a fragmentation of their habitat which results in small populations of Bengal tigers being cut off from other Bengal tigers in another isolated area. Essentially the amount of space they have is reduced too much in order to ensure genetic diversity. This negatively impact conservation very severely.
Fragmentation comes from deforestation, roads, agriculture, human developments, railway lines, mining, all of which are human activities.
I mentioned some anatomical abnormalities above but there may be others such as misaligned eyes, malformation of limbs, heart disease and reduced fertility perhaps even infertility.
The conclusion is that this is a bad sign and we know that the Indian government is very keen to promote their efforts to conserve and protect the Bengal Tiger in their country. They are proud of their efforts. The emergence of a golden tiger dents their marketing.
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My thanks as ever to Sarah Hartwell. I have met her many years ago. Do you want to know something about her? Click this link if you do.
