Black Tigers: Scientists Uncover the Secrets Behind the Genetic Mutants' Unique Stripes

Tigers rely on camouflage and stealth when hunting, and their stripes help them do that along with their orange color. It is common knowledge that aside from the orange tigers, white tigers carry a very rare gene. However, the extremely rare black tigers are a different league of their own.

Last year, an amateur photographer captured a photo of a black tiger in India that caught the attention of wildlife enthusiasts. Since they are so rare, there has been little information about them and why they have wider and merged stripes compared to other tigers. But a new study could explain this, pointing to a genetic cause and evolution.

(Photo: Pixabay/oatpost)
Black Tigers: Scientists Uncover the Secrets Behind the Genetic Mutants' Unique Stripes

The Mystery of Black Tigers

The study, titled "High Frequency of an Otherwise Rare Phenotype in a Small and Isolated Tiger Population," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), revealed a unique pattern of genetic cause and showed how evolution influenced the stripes of black tigers.

Scientific American reported that scientists sequenced the genomes of three black tigers born in a zoo and their parents who had the typical stripes at India's National Center for Biological Sciences. They found that the taqpep gene was responsible for their unique stripes.

The team analyzed tiger droppings, fur, drool, and blood samples to determine the prevalence of this genetic mutation and its virtual absence outside Simplipal National Park, a tiger reserve in India. They discovered that altered taqpep genes cause blotched tabby patterns in cats, as well as the spots and stripes in king cheetahs.

These patterns were rare because the offspring can only have this when genes from both parents have matching genetic mutations. About 10 out of 12 Simplipal tigers they sampled had a copy of this gene, while the four black tigers had two copies.

On the other hand, the 396 tigers they surveyed outside the tiger reserve had one copy of the mutation. Researchers said that the findings imply that the Simplipal tigers are so isolated that they never breed with tigers outside the national park, which left them with the genetic changes for many generations.

Vinay Sagar, the lead author of the study and a molecular ecologist, said their findings are truly astonishing. Meanwhile, senior author and molecular ecologist Uma Ramakrishnan said that this is the most exciting discovery of her career.

ALSO READ: Colorized Film of Tasmanian Tiger in Australia Shows What the Extinct Thylacine Might Look Like

Black Tiger Spotted in India

In 2020, amateur photographer Soumen Bajpayee was stunned by the ultra-rare black tiger he saw in eastern Odisha. According to Mail Online, black tigers can only be found in India, and there are only seven to eight of them left in the state.

Black tigers are easy to spot from ordinary tigers because they have thick black stripes with little space between them that hides their orange fur almost completely. They are usually found in the jungles of the Indian state, although they are rarely seen.

The 2018 Tiger Consensus Report showed that the population of black tigers has drastically declined in recent years and that they are nearing extinction. The majority of them are in the Simplipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, wherein wildlife officials first reported sighting the extremely rare black tigers in 2007.