Nandankanan Zoological Park: White Tiger Subhranshu passes away

A rare white tiger named Subhranshu of Nandankanan Zoological Park passed away on Tuesday. The tiger was suffering from Blood Protozoan disease and was under intensive care and treatment of the zoo veterinarians for the last one month. A post-mortem is going to be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

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Subhranshu had stopped eating food

According to media reports, the white tiger had fallen sick at the zoological park. Reports quoting a source had stated that Subhranshu had stopped eating food and was under treatment in its feeding chamber. Subhranshu continued to lay at one place on Saturday leaving the zoo authorities in a fix.

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Reports have further mention that the white tiger had not been keeping well for quite some time. Subhranshu was first discovered to be unwell on September 22 and at the point, the white tiger suffered from diarrhoea. Sources stated that tiger was suffering from liver-related troubles and its health condition deteriorated further from Saturday. This is despite the veterinaries in the zoo doing their best to help Subhranshu recover. 

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White tigers are not albino tigers

Turpentine Refugee states, white tigers are not albino tigers, a different subspecies of a tiger such as snow, arctic, or Royal Bengal white tiger. They are a colour variant or genetic mutation of the Bengal Tiger. There are currently no white tigers in the wild. Colour morphs are typically associated with rarity and separate endangered species, which is not the case for white tigers. They possess a double recessive gene that expresses a white coat, and roughly 1/10,000 tigers have this rare allele. With only 3,820 tigers currently in the wild, it is extremely unlikely one will be born. If so, white colour is a disadvantage since they do not have their camouflage, and would not survive in the willd.

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