The Bristol White tigers(direct descendants of the Rewa line) were very svelt and short-haired, being pure Indian (I don't use the term 'Bengal'!). If you look at postcards/photos of White tigers in Indian zoos too, also pure of course, they are even shorter-haired due the warm climate.
Outside of India, hybridisation with Siberian has given the current whites heavier heads as well as the stocky body and longer coat.
Ahh, thankyou pertinax. May I ask you why you refuse to use the term bengal tiger?, also would you happen to know when India stopped shipping white tigers to foreign wildlife parks?
May I ask you why you refuse to use the term bengal tiger?, also would you happen to know when India stopped shipping white tigers to foreign wildlife parks?
Its just a personal thing really- ' Royal Bengal Tiger' is a term left over from the old Colonial days and I believe 'Indian Tiger' is more widely used scientifically.
As to when India stopped exports- not sure on that, except that the Bristol White Tigers may well have been among the last (mid 1960's). I think a lot of other Indian tigers had been breeding in zoos long before that for many generations but without serious consideration to their pedigrees.
Ahh, thankyou, never thought about that really, you've changed my point of view, thankyou, and thanks for the info, wish they would export some more, would be good to get a pure breeding program set up *starts dreaming of a pure indian tiger breeding program...*
I seem to remember circuses using the term 'Royal Bengal Tigers' for their performers . They also would use the term 'Forest Bred' for their big cats , presumably to imply wild-bred and therefore more dangerous .
Its just a personal thing really- ' Royal Bengal Tiger' is a term left over from the old Colonial days and I believe 'Indian Tiger' is more widely used scientifically.
Well I never realised that, I've mainly heard the term royal applied to white tigers and thought it was because of links to Indian royalty. What you said seems to make a lot of sense though. Thanks Pertinax!
wish they would export some more, would be good to get a pure breeding program set up /QUOTE]
At one time, before Siberian and Sumatran Tigers appeared in any number in Zoos (say before the 1960's) 'Indian' Tigers were the most commonly kept in captivity, though as I said above, some of them would have been impure as little attention was paid to breeding them apart from just 'Tigers'. Most of the Indian Tigers at John Aspinall's for example were later found to be generic tigers and have been gradually phased out.
I think India may have stopped allowing exports of any of their Tigers since the crashes in Wild Tiger numbers- they've enough problems keeping the species going in the wild. However all Indian Zoos have Tigers-all(or nearly all) purebred as they've no need to import Tigers from anywhere else, having their own supply. So I don't see why they couldn't export a few of these zoo tigers to restart breeding programmes elsewhere.
Initially I think they've done the right thing stopping the exports, but now I think its time to set up a proper breeding program, love to see them in the aspinall parks, something magical about seeing tigers there. Thankyou for the infomation
I think as Bele mentioned above 'Royal Bengal Tiger' has a certain flourish to it so there's a degree of hype in that title and circus love hype!
I haven't heard 'Royal' used regarding White Tigers so is presumably another made-up title- however its not without an element of truth as it was the Indian Maharajah of Rewa(State) who captured the first white cub(Mohan) and kept him in his 'royal' Palace. Without his perseverence in breeding, more White Tigers wouldn't have appeared from that line.
