Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
In what experts are terming as a rare event, nine-year-old white tigress Ragini gave birth to three cubs including two that are tricoloured – combination of white, orange and black - at the Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya.
Such multicoloured tigers are not there in any of the zoos nationwide, claimed Zoo in-charge Uttam Yadav.
Tigeress Ragini was brought to Indore zoo under the animal exchange programme from Odisha, and this is the first time that she has given birth. The father of cubs is four-and-half year black tiger Vicky, a melanistic tiger.
Zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said, "One cub is black and white, just like its father, and the other two are a mix of three colors black, white and orange".
The mother and the cubs are healthy. The cubs are under observation, informed zoo officials.
“The white tiger is produced by a genetic fluke that occurs when two orange tigers with rare recessive forms of a gene, called alleles, happen to breed,” city zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said.
With the birth of the cubs, the count of tigers in the Indore zoo has reached 15, eight adults and seven cubs. Officials added that white tigers in the wild are so rare that they have only been seen a handful of times in recorded history, with the last known wild white tiger getting killed in 1958.
+BOX
//At what time which cub born?
First cub black and white color 10:37 am
Second cub tri-color (black, white and orange) 12:18 am
Third cub black tiger (orange and black) 01:51 pm
//Who is tigress Ragini?
The white tigress Ragini reached Kamla Nehru Prani Sanghralaya in 2021. The last white tigress in Indore zoo had died in 2016.
