The number of black tigers(pseudo-melanistic) in Indian zoos.

dt644

dt644

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I think many zoochatters already seen it, a few days ago, many articles saying a picture of a black tiger had been taken in the Orissa state, India.

Many articles said that the photo was taken in "Nandankanan Sanctuary" and said the black tiger in the photos was a wild tiger, but I'm sure that tiger was a male tiger named "Krishna," at "Nandankanan Zoological Park" in Orissa state. To compare between the concrete under the tiger in the photos in the articles with the outer part of the tiger enclosure at the Nandankanan Zoological Park, it even more certain.

Video of the tiger enclosure of Nandankanan Zoological Park
​
Anyway, after I seen these articles, I wondered about the number of black tigers in zoos in India. Three years ago, I had collected data on these black tigers, and the number of black tigers that I could confirm were in zoos in India at that time was as follows.


Arigna Anna Zoological Park: 1 male​
  • unknown name male: Born June 6, 2010, white and black coat.

Nandankanan Zoological Park: 2 male​
  • Krishna: Born July 28, 2014, orange and black coat, brother of Subhranshu.
  • Subhranshu: Born July 28, 2014, white and black coat, brother of Krishna.


And this time, after hearing about the black tiger after a long time, I gathered information again, so I could find this information: some articles said two new black tigers being born on January 30 last year at Arigna Anna Zoological Park, and also find an article said Nandankanan zoological Park unveiled two new black tigers late last year.

That the number of black tigers born or disclosed in Arigna Anna and Nandankanan was the same, so I was wondering if the tigers born in Arigna anna were moved to Nandankanan, but I am not sure because it is difficult to find information.

In addition, some articles recently reported in Korea said black tigers was born in Nandankanan in 2016 and 2017, which is even more confusing. So, I'd like to get some help with this. Any zoochatters who lives in India or knows about black tigers in India zoos, I would appreciate it if you could give me some information about this topic.
 
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Interesting video clip. As you can see, the so-called black tigers of India are not melanistic (which would be dark black stripes on a lighter black background). They exhibit a trait that I have read is called abundism, where the black stripes are so pronounced they cover most of the body. The small bits of undercoat are still the normal orange color.
 
I had read some time ago that there are a number of all Black tiger skins in some Indian Museums perhaps a web search would help locate any information!
 
Arizona Docent said:
I think the skins are not all black but are cases like the tiger pictured in the video.
See this link: MUTANT BIG CATS
Click to expand...
From what I can remember yes it did state them being all black also I have a Tiger book somewhere which states that some hunters in the past in India claim to have seen and some cases shot them!
 
dt644 said:
And this time, after hearing about the black tiger after a long time, I gathered information again, so I could find this information: some articles said two new black tigers being born on January 30 last year at Arigna Anna Zoological Park, and also find an article said Nandankanan zoological Park unveiled two new black tigers late last year.
Click to expand...

Edit: It's not January 30, but January 9.

Arizona Docent said:
I think the skins are not all black but are cases like the tiger pictured in the video.
See this link: MUTANT BIG CATS
Click to expand...

Thank you. I could find that link mentioned the name of a black tiger born in Arigna Anna in 2010. His name is 'Sembian.'

I've seen that site three or four years ago while researching information about white tigers, golden tigers and black tigers. But I didn't know it was being updated until recently.
 
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