Wildlife photographer spots rare pale skinned tiger in the Nilgiris
A wildlife photographer from Bengaluru has for the first time sighted a rare pale skinned tiger in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, where he was on a visit last week.
The sighting has sparked interest among conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts, because this is said to be a normal tiger and not a white tiger.
Nilanjan Ray, a wildlife photographer from Bengaluru, spotted the tiger in the Niligiris Biosphere Reserve last week.
Speaking to HT, Ray said, "I was travelling in the reserve with a forest guard, when this tiger leaped on to a hillside and hid in some undergrowth..." he said.
However, Ray was not prepared for the reaction he got when he posted the pictures on social media. "Many people said this was a fake and there was a general hue and cry," he said.
“So, I decided to send the photos to the Parvish Pandya, a zoologist, and Belinda Wright, a renowned conservationist and film-maker,” Ray said.
Pandya told Ray that this pale skin was called colour morphism, which is the result of genetic variation. Meanwhile, Wright told him she had seen a similar tiger in Ranthambore in the 1980s.
“This was not a white or albino tiger, which, Wright said, are only available in zoos and bred there,” Ray said.
A senior forest official told HT, “The tiger looks like a sub-adult. But do not know the sex of the tiger,” the official said. “While we know the location where the tiger was spotted, we cannot reveal it because this could endanger the tiger," he added.