[Watch] Spotted: Rare Black Tiger In Odisha’s Similipal National Park

Bhubaneswar: In a rare sighting at Odisha’s Similipal National Park, a black tiger is seen leaving scratch marks on a tree to mark its territory.

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda shared the clip of the rare melanistic tiger on International Tiger Day on Friday.

Black or pseudo-melanistic tigers sport large dark stripes and are rare.

These are Bengal tigers with a single base mutation in a particular gene. This mutation causes the tigers’ distinctive black stripes to enlarge and overshadow the orange portion.

“The rare tigers were first officially discovered in STR (Similipal Tiger Reserve) in 2007,” another IFS officer Parveen Kasveen wrote.

Tigers are symbol of sustainability of India’s forests…
Sharing an interesting clip of a rare melanistic tiger marking its territory on international Tigers day.
From a Tiger Reserve poised for recovery of an isolated source population with a very unique gene pool. Kudos🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/FiCIuO8Qj4

— Susanta Nanda IFS (Retd) (@susantananda3) July 29, 2022