Maltese Tiger
Photo illustration of a Maltese tiger (Artistic Rendering)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Felidae Genus: Panthera Species: P. tigris Subspecies: P. t. melitensis ???

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. It is said to have bluish fur with dark grey stripes. The term "Maltese" means "slate grey" and comes from the domestic cat world; it does not refer to Malta as the origin of the blue tigers. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1000x686, 256 KB) Summary Although there have not being any maltese tigers on display this picture displays what a maltese may look like. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Animalia redirects here. ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses Allotheria* Order Multituberculata (extinct) Order Volaticotheria (extinct) Order Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Order Triconodonta (extinct) Prototheria Order Monotremata Theria Infraclass Marsupialia Infraclass Eutheria The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in females for the nourishment of young, from mammary glands present on most species... Families 17, See classification The diverse order Carnivora IPA: (from Latin carō (stem carn-) flesh, + vorāre to devour) includes over 260 placental mammals. ... Subfamilies Felinae Pantherinae †Machairodontinae The Felidae family includes the Lion, the Tiger, the Domestic Cats, and other felines as its members. ... Species Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae (the cats), which contains four well-known species: the tiger, lion, leopard, and jaguar. ... Binomial name Panthera tigris altaica (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. ... A Morph or morphotype, meaning form (from the Latin morpha), is a zoological term that describes local populations or subpopulations of a single species of animal that are phenotypically or behaviourally distinct from the larger population as a whole. ... Binomial name Panthera tigris altaica (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. ... Fujian (Chinese: 福建; pinyin: Fújiàn; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal System Pinyin: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. ... Slate gray is a gray with a slight azure tinge. ...

Recent blue tiger sightings

Other very occasional sightings have been claimed of bluish-toned tigers, particularly in the Fujian Province. There was one report from the son of a US Army soldier who served in Korea during the Korean War. His father is certain he sighted a blue tiger in the mountains there, near what is now the Demilitarized Zone. Blue tigers have also been reported from Burma. Caldwell's hunting expedition indicated that blue tigers preferred inaccessible regions where they were less likely to be encountered by humans. This kind of cat is not a different breed of animal. It is a genetic mutation caused by cats inbreeding. The fur of the animal isnt technically blue, its white with grey hues in it, and appears blue from a distance. Korea (Korean: 한국 or ì¡°ì„ , see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea  Australia  Belgium Canada  Colombia Ethiopia  France Greece  Netherlands  New Zealand  Philippines South Africa  Thailand  Turkey  United Kingdom United States Medical staff:  Denmark  Australia  Italy  Norway  Sweden Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China  Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee... Map of the Korean DMZ. The DMZ is given in red. ...

A smokey blue pseudo-melanistic tiger cub was born in the Oklahoma Zoo in 1964 to ordinary Bengal tiger parents. It died in infancy and is preserved as a bottled specimen. There are no blue tigers in zoos or private collections; however, an impression of what a Maltese tiger specimen would look like is available at Blue Tigers Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ...

Genetics supporting existence of blue tigers

In support of the blue tiger theory, Maltese-colored cats certainly do exist. The most common is a domestic breed, the Russian Blue, but blue bobcats and lynxes have also been recorded and there are genetic mutations and combinations that result in blue tonings, or at least in the impression of a blue-gray animal. One such mutation would affect the background hue. More feasible is a variant expression of chinchilla gene (the same gene found in white tigers). The Russian Blue is a breed of cat. ... Binomial name Lynx rufus Schreber, 1777 Bobcat (Lynx rufus, or commonly felis rufus) is a wild cat native to North America. ... The overall range of Lynx species. ...

Adding weight to the argument in favour of bluish individuals, for a long time experts considered the black tiger mythical. Several pelts have proven that pseudo-melanistic tigers exist. Such tigers are not wholly black, but have dense, wide stripes that partially obscure the orange background colour. The pseudo-melanistic tiger cub born in captivity had a smokey hue between some of the stripes.

Possible distribution of Maltese tiger

The Maltese tigers reported to date were of the South Chinese subspecies. Fujian Province was the area most famed for the blue colouring and may have been the home of an aberrant population of tigers. Few, if any, blue tigers now exist in the wild. The number of blue tiger sightings is out of proportion to the tiny population (perhaps 30 cats) which may remain and is more likely to be due to observation of normal tigers in poor light conditions. The gene may be extinct in the wild.

In small or isolated populations, inbreeding can fix traits such as unusual coloration. A non-harmful mutation can soon become widespread in small/isolated and inbred populations. If the mutant gene confers benefit e.g. better camouflage, then affected individuals may out-compete those lacking the mutation. Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. ...

It is possible that blue tigers were due to a form of the chinchilla gene known as "shaded silver" and familiar to domestic cat breeders. The South China tiger is considered the "stem species" from which all other tigers evolved so it is conceivable that the chinchilla mutation occurred in the South China tiger (whose current range covers Fujian province near Taiwan) resulting in blue-gray individuals. That gene might have been inherited by descendent species of tiger resulting in blue and white varieties of tigers. It might have combined with other genes to produce white tigers in the Amur tiger (north eastern China, northern North Korea and Siberia) since the Amur and South China tigers' ranges may have historically overlapped, allowing the spread of the chinchilla gene through interbreeding.

See Also

Tigon Panther

External links

• Article at Cryptzoology.com
• Blue Tigers
• The Cryptid Zoo: Blue and Black Tigers

Books

• CALDWELL, Harry R., Blue Tiger (Duckworth: London, 1925)
• Roy Chapman Andrews & Yvette Borup Andrews: A Narrative Of Exploration, Adventure, And Sport In Little-Known China, 1918: Chapter 7 "Blue Tiger"