The so-called `white tigers` only occur sporadically in nature in the Bengal tiger. The animals are half-albinos leucism whose eyes are blue instead of red. All white tigers living in captivity go back to the tiger tomcat `Mohan`, who was discovered in 1951 as a cub during a hunt by Martand Singh, the Maharaja of Rewa, in the jungle of Bandhavgarh. Singh kept the animal in a golden cage, but always gave it the opportunity to reproduce since it reached sexual maturity. All bred white tigers that have since been bred in zoos in the USA, later by circuses and showmen, are descendants of Mohan and one of his daughters, whose litter was the first with white tigers. The show animals known today under the names `White Tiger` white with black stripes, `Snow Tiger` all white, `Golden Tiger` yellow with pale stripes etc. are inbred color forms, some of which are Siberian Tigers were crossed; they are not their own species.
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