Scientists have unraveled the mystery at the back of Odishas Black Tigers in Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
The STR is the only tiger habitat in the world with melanistic tigers, which have vast black stripes strolling throughout their bodies and thicker than those viewed on ordinary tigers.
Black Tigers are a rare shade variant of the tiger and are now not a wonderful species or geographic subspecies.
The coat colouration & patterning that make the wild cats show up darkish boil down to a single mutation in the Transmembrane Aminopeptidase Q (Taqpep) gene.
And the abnormally darkish or black coat in such tigers is termed pseudo melanistic or false coloured. If you pick out any tiger from Similipal, the chance that it carries the mutant gene is almost 60%.
Factors for Occuring Black Colour: Due to Geographic Isolation, genetically associated people have been mating with each other for many generations in Similipal, mainly due to inbreeding. It needs to be mentioned that this has essential implications for tiger conservation as such isolated and inbred populations are susceptible to extinction over even short intervals of time.