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A black tiger is a rare colour variant of the tiger and is not a distinct species or geographic race. There are unconfirmed reports and one painting (now lost) of pure black non-striped tigers (true melanistic tigers), but no physical evidence. Most black mammals are due to the non-agouti mutation. Agouti refers to the ticking of each individual hair. In certain light, the pattern still shows up because the background colour is less dense than the colour of the markings. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Binomial name Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of tigers in 1900 (red) and 1990 (green) Synonyms Felis tigris Linnaeus, 1758 Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858 Tigris regalis pink, 1867 Tigers (Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the Panthera genus. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Melanism is an increased amount of black or nearly black pigmentation (as of skin, feathers, or hair) of an individual or kind of organism. ... Agouti signalling peptide, also referred to as Agouti, is a peptide which acts as an antagonist at melanocortin receptors, specifically, MC1. ...

So-called black tigers are due to pseudo-melanism. Pseudo-melanistic tigers have thick stripes so close together that the tawny background is barely visible between stripes. Such tigers are said to be getting more common due to inbreeding. They are also said to be smaller than normal tigers, perhaps also due to inbreeding or because large black leopards are misidentified as black tigers. Melanistic Eastern Grey Squirrel in Toronto, Canada. ... Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. ... A melanistic black jaguar, or black panther The black panther is the common name for a black specimen (a melanistic variant) of any of several species of cats. ...

Sightings (1772-1895)

In 1772, while in the service of British East India Company in Kerala, southwest India, artist James Forbes painted a watercolour of a black tiger shot a few months earlier by the Nairs in that region. The painting has been lost, but Forbes' description of it survives: The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was the first joint-stock company (the Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). ... Kerala ( ; Malayalam: കേരളം; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. ... James Forbes (born 1749, London–died 1819) was a British artist and writer. ... Watercolor is a painting technique making use of water-soluble pigments that are either transparent or opaque and are formulated with gum to bond the pigment to the paper. ... Nair (Malayalam: നായര്‍, and sometimes spelt Nayar) is the name of a Hindu caste from the southern Indian state of Kerala. ...

I have also the opportunity of adding the portrait of an extraordinary Tyger [sic], shot a few months ago by the Nairs in this neighbourhood, and presented to the chief as a great curiosity. It was entirely black yet striped in the manner of the Royal-Tyger, with shades of a still darker hue, like the richest black, glossed with purple. My pencil is very deficient in displaying these mingled tints; nor do I know how to describe them better than by the difference you would observe in a black cloth variegated with shades of a rich velvet. Velvet is a type of tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it its distinct feel. ...

This corresponds to ghost markings similar to those on black panthers.

A black tiger from the East Indies was exhibited in the Tower of London menagerie, founded in the 13th Century by Henry III and operational until 1831 (it was relocated to its present site in Regent's Park, now London Zoo); however, it was more likely to have been a black leopard. The 1786 book, "Sophie in London" records Sophie's impressions of this cat: "The all-black tiger, which Mr. Hastings brought with him from the East Indies is most handsome, but his tigery glance is horrible." The Observer newspaper on 27 January 1844 records a black tiger (again, probably a black leopard) intended as a present for Napoleon from the King of Java. This tiger was displayed at Kendrick's menagerie in Piccadilly, London. A black tiger pelt displayed at the Los Angeles Country Museum, USA was probably a black leopard. Her Majestys Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically simply as The Tower), is a historic monument in central London, England on the north bank of the River Thames. ... Menagerie is the term for a historical form of keeping wild and exotic animals in human captivity and therefore a predecessor of the modern zoological garden. ... Rulers with the title Henry III include: Henry III of Champagne Henry III of England Henry III of France Henry III of Germany (later Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor) Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor Henry III of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) Henry III, Duke of Saxony (Henry the... This article is about Regents Park in London. ... The giant London Zoo aviary London Zoo, or more correctly London Zoological Gardens, is the worlds oldest scientific zoo. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan. ... Napoléon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, became Napoléon I, Emperor of the French)[1] (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Title page of volume 1, number 1, of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 1886.

In March 1846, the naturalist C.T. Buckland reported a black tiger in the Chittagong Hills (now in Bangladesh) where it was raiding cattle. It was shot with a poisoned arrow and its body was later discovered but it was too decomposed to skin. Buckland's account for The Field, which was printed in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS) during 1889, documented the case of a black tiger killed at Chittagong. The report is even more dubious because over 40 years had elapsed between the actual event and the report; all of the party members that could have corroborated his story had died. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 375 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (400 × 640 pixel, file size: 49 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 375 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (400 × 640 pixel, file size: 49 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Chittagong (Bengali: চট্টগ্রাম, Chôţţogram) is the major seaport and second largest city of Bangladesh. ... The Bombay Natural History Society is the largest organisation engaged in conservation research in the Indian subcontinent. ...

In September 1895, a very clear sighting of a supposed black tiger was made by Colonel S. Capper using a hunter's telescope; the tiger disappeared into the jungle. The presence of black leopards in the area and the difficulty of accurately judging size makes this a dubious report though. The various accounts of black tiger sightings were detailed in "The Wildlife of India" by E.P. Gee. A spotting scope is a portable telescope, optimized for the observation of terrestrial objects. ... Edward Pritchard Gee (E. P. Gee) (1904-1968) was a tea-planter and an amateur naturalist in Assam, India. ...

Sightings (1913-1972)

In 1913, A.T. Hauxwell fired at an apparent black tiger near Bhamo, in Burma, but it escaped. He reported this in the JBNHS. Bhamo is a city in Kachin State in Myanmar, located 186 km south from the capital of Myitkyina. ...

A jet-black tiger with no visible markings was apparently shot in Assam, India in 1915; unlike most melanistic big cats, which have shadowy patterns visible from certain angles, this jet black individual had no appearance of striping. A dead black tiger was reported south of Assam in 1928, but the skin was too decayed to be saved. Another one from around the same date was reported in the Central Provinces andgtshtshtbg haesheahesd dark brown coats with black markings T. Banjie's report "Tahtehigers in China " (1983) alleged several sightings of black tigers in the Dongning area of China. Sightings occurrhethteed in 1951, 1953 and 1957 and a black tiger was allegedly captured in 1972. Black tigers are also part of Vietnamese legend. ehetheheThe depletion of tahetashtigers in those regions may have eliminated the carriers of genes for melanism and pseudo-melanism. A "black tiger" shot in Manipur state in the early 1930s was actually a black bear, but was called a black tiger to take advantage of the bounty offered for such creatures. In 1936, a black tiger captured in Dibrugarh turned out to be a black leopard, but a skin with chocolate brown background and black stripes was reported in the same year in the Central Provinces. Assam   (Assamese: অসম Ôxôm) is a north eastern state of India with its capital at Dispur, a part of Guwahati. ... A British Raj province comprising British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India. ... Dibrugarh is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. ...

A.A. Dunbar Brander of the British Indian Forest Service witnessed a tiger getting covered in blood from a fresh kill and as the blood dried it appeared black. He said, "Had I not witnessed this transformation and come on the tigers without being aware of what had happened, I would have been firmly convinced that I had seen a black tiger."

According to S.H. Prater writing for the JBNHS in January 1937, The London Evening News, 10 October 1936, published a Reuters account of a black "Royal Bengal" tiger captured in a forest in Dibrugarh, Assam. The manager of a local tea estate captured the tiger in a baited iron cage. The Conservator of Forests, Assam was unable to get a clear view of the black tiger, but advised the Society that it was trapped on 4 September 1936 in the Nepaphoo Tea Estate owned by Bagchi Brothers of Dibrugarh and it was sold to wild animal dealers Messrs PKB Akuli of Barrackpore Road, Calcutta. Dr. Baini Prashad, Director of the Zoological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Calcutta made further inquiries and learned that the creature was a black leopard and not, as reported by Reuters, a tiger. Sankahal noted that the "Dibrugarh Black Tiger" reported to be 12 feet long and 3.5 feet high turned out to be a 7 ft black leopard. R. I. Pocock wrote "A ridiculous measurement (12 feet) ever for a tiger: the animal would require another pair of legs in the middle of its body, like a billiard table, to support its weight." Stanley Henry Prater (1890-1960), naturalist who studied the mammals of the Indian subcontinent. ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pron. ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was established on 1st July, 1916 to promote the survey, exploration and research of the fauna in the region. ... The Indian Museum was founded by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich a Danish botanist at Serampore (original called Frederischnagore) near Calcutta in 1814. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... Reginald Innes Pocock sucks!!! Partial bibliography Reginald I. Pocock (1902) Reginald Innes Pocock (1902) Reginald Innes Pocock (1900) The Fauna of British India (including Ceylon and Burma). ...

Pocock's article in the JBNHS^[1] recorded 3 reports of black tigers: the 1846 Chittagong specimen reported by Mr. C. F. Buckland in the Field^[2] and in the JBNHS;^[3] the 1913 Bhamo, Burma specimen reported by Mr. A. T. Hauxwell^[4] and the Lushai Hills, Assam specimen.^[5] Col. S. Capper,^[6] while shooting in the Cardamom Hills, S. India, saw through a telescope a black animal lying on a rock and identified it as a tiger. Black leopards were present in the area and the identification is therefore dubious. Brigadier General Burton wrote in his book "Sport and Wildlife in the Deccan" that light and shade in the jungle can give erroneous impressions of an animal's colour, thus casting doubt on Hauxwell's black tiger also. The Cardamom Hills are elevated regions in Kerala, India. ... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ...

Captain Guy Dollman of the British Natural History Museum wrote in The Times, 14 October 1936 of 2 cases of melanism in the tiger. The first was a young individual shot in the Central Provinces some years previously. It was dark brown all over with stripes appearing black on the dark ground colour. The second was an animal shot in 1915 by natives east of Dibrugarh, Assam. Dollman wrote, "There can be no doubt that the animals I have referred to above were tigers and not leopards". In response to Dollman, W.H. Carter wrote in the Times of 16 October 1936 For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

"I was much interested in Captain Guy Dollman's letter on black tigers in The Times of October 14, having been resident in the neighbourhood mentioned by him for years. In one of the official district Gazetteers of Bengal (Khulna or Backerganj) there is mentioned a local variety of tiger which had lost its stripes as camouflage in the open sandy tracts of Sundarbans. The uniform colour scheme adopted was however, brown and not black, but perhaps his cousin in the hinterland found black more suited to his background. The author of the Gazetteer in question is, I believe, dead." October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Ganges River Delta, Bangladesh and India The Sundarbans delta is the largest mangrove forest in the world. ...

Sightings (1970-current)

In the early 1970s, Oklahoma City Zoo's pair of tigers had three cubs that were abnormally coloured. One had the normal background colour but all four limbs were abnormally dark. The second had dark feet, though these gradually grew lighter as it matured and became the normal colour when it reached adulthood. The third had the normal background colour, but considerable darkening over the shoulders, down both front legs, over the pelvis, and encompassing both black legs. The darkening was more-or-less the same colour as the stripes. The striped pattern was only visible over the darkened areas. Unfortunately, two of the three cubs were killed by the mother, leaving only the dark-footed cub. The black cub was preserved in formalin. Quite possibly it also would have become lighter in colour as it matured. The widely acclaimed Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in the Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ...

In 1999 L. A. K. Singh^[7] gave a very detailed account of the Melanistic Tiger in India. During the winter of 1975/6, two adult black tigers were seen in bright sunlight on the road leading to Matughar meadow; the sighting was made by Orissa Forest Service officials accompanied by two foreign tourists. In 1991, a black cub was seen with two adults and a normal colour cub at Devasthali, though this sighting was dismissed as an optical illusion. During 1996, adult black tigers were observed several times. A yellow-striped black tiger was seen near Baladaghar . A black tiger was seen near Bachhurichara, between Patabil and Devasthali. Some time later, a yellow-striped black tiger was seen between Patabil and Devasthali. Orissa   (Oriya: ଓଡ଼ିଶା), is a state situated on the east coast of India. ...

In 1992, the pelt of another apparently true melanistic tiger was confiscated from a hunter and smuggler at Tis Hazari, south Delhi. The top of the head and back were black, while the sides showed shadow striping on a black background colour. The pelt was exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi, in February 1993. In 1993, a young boy shot a melanistic female tiger in self defence with a bow and arrow, near the village of Podagad, west of Similipal Tiger Reserve. Initial examination suggested the background colour was black with white abdominal stripes and tawny dorsal stripes. According to Valmik Thapar in Tiger: The Ultimate Guide, the only proof of black tigers is a skin with a black head and back. K. Ullas Karanth wrote in The Way Of The Tiger that a partially black tiger was recently killed by poachers in Assam. In anatomy, the dorsum is the upper or back side of an animal, as opposed to the ventrum. ...

See also

• Maltese tiger

The Maltese Tigeris a suspected coloration morph of tiger that has historically been reported in the Fujian Province of China and claimed to have been sighted on a few occasions. ...

References

1. ^ (vol xxxiii, p505)
2. ^ (vol lxxiii, p42, p789)
3. ^ (vol iv, p149)
4. ^ (JBNHS, xxxii, p788)
5. ^ (Field, 1928, p 656)
6. ^ (JBNHS, vol xxiii, p343)
7. ^ (1999) Born Black: The Melansitic Tiger in India. WWF-India, 66 pages.

• T. Banjie, Tigers in China (1983).
• C. F. Buckland, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS) (vol. iv, p. 149) 1889.
• C. F. Buckland, The Field (vol lxxiii, p.42; p. 789).
• Brigadier-General Burton, Sport and Wildlife in the Deccan.
• Col. S. Capper Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), vol xxiii, p. 343.
• W. H. Carter, "Letters", The Times (16 October 1936).
• Capt. Guy Dollman, The Times (14 October 1936).
• E. P. Gee, The Wildlife of India
• A. T. Hauxwell, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), vol. xxxii, p. 788).
• Pocock, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), Vol xxxiii, p. 505.
• S. H.Prater, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), January, 1937.
• Reuters, The London Evening News, 10 October 1936.
• Valmik Thapar, Tiger: The Ultimate Guide.
• K. Ullas Karanth, The Way Of The Tiger.
• L. A. K. Singh (1999): Born Black: The Melansitic Tiger in India. WWF-India, 66 pages.

October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

External links

• Black Tigers
• Black Tigers
• Black or Melanistic Tigers