Weekly Environmental Fact – A “Blue” Tiger??
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
This can't be real... can it?
Weekly Environmental Fact time gang! Today’s question comes from Irvine, who never fails to stimulate the brain with interesting questions each week, thank you Irvy! The question is, “Is there really a blue tiger called the Maltese tiger?” The answer is YES and it’s a beautiful creature.
The Maltese tiger, sometimes called a blue tiger is a sub species of a tiger that is really only different in color. This phenomenon also occurs in South American jaguars, you may have seen pictures of light jaguars with dark spots and also dark jaguars, sometimes called black panthers, with barely visible spots. Maltese tigers are similar to black panthers in that they are a coloration morph of South Chinese tigers. It is largely believed that these Maltese tigers are completely extinct, but there have been reports of blue tigers in Korea as well, home to the Siberian tiger. Black tigers have also been reported and for a long time were also considered to by mythical. Even though these elusive beasts may be incredibly difficult to find and possibly extinct there is good news. Because Blue tigers are essentially genetic anomalies there is always the possibility of two “regular” tigers giving birth to one of these mythical creatures. What do you think about the incredible Maltese tiger? Have you ever heard of one? Special thanks to Irvine for opening my eyes to yet another incredible animal that I had not previously known about! See you on the Island!
-Mio
