An extremely rare black tiger was spotted in India by amateur photographer Soumen Bajpayee.
The melanic tiger is found only in Odisha, a state in eastern India.
Ultra-rare BLACK tiger is spotted in India: Animal lover photographs predator with highly unusual colouring https://t.co/8My4tNuD2W pic.twitter.com/JqbaOHdyVo
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 4, 2020
These big wild cats are not a separate subspecies, but simply have a genetic defect that makes the black stripes thicker than usual, hiding the orange fur. They are also smaller than the other tigers.
Melanic tigers were first seen in India in 1990, but is on the verge of extinction. Biologists say there are only seven to eight left. Poaching? Urbanization? Pollution?
