Post by bluefedish on May 29, 2007 15:08:37 GMT -5
Blue tigers have been recorded. They have slate grey or black stripes on a pale grey body. Normally blue dilution makes the colour lighter e.g. black becomes blue-grey; it doe not transform orange into grey. Blue tigers have been sporadically reported in the mountains of the Fujian province in China. It is described as maltese (bluish-grey or slate-blue) with white patches on the face and black stripes. Other normally tawny cats have blue or grey colour forms e.g. the bobcat so it would not be impossible to have blue/grey mutations in the tiger. A solid grey tiger could be caused by the non-agouti gene (causes melanism or solid black colour) and the colour dilution gene (converts colour to a washed out hue i.e. black to blue); this would result in grey tigers with darker grey stripes.
A smokey blue pseudomelanistic tiger was born in Oklahoma in the 1960s, the preserved speciment is shown in the section on black tigers.
In 1910, while in south-eastern China American Methodist missionary and renowned tiger hunter Harry R. Caldwell described a tiger coloured deep shades of blue and grey-blue. It was described as having a bluish-grey base colour which changed to deep blue on the undersides and stripes similar to those of a normal orange tiger. Caldwell attempted to shoot the tiger, but noticed two boys collecting plants nearby so he moved to a safer location from the shot. Unfortunately, the tiger disappeared. He wrote about the blue tiger in his book "Blue Tiger" in 1925 and noted that other sightings had been reported in the region.
There had been sporadic sightings of blue tigers in the Fujian Province of China since the early 1900s. Caldwell called the tiger "Bluebeard" and it became a personal mission to shoot the animal for its pelt. Although he never caught the cat, villagers confirmed the presence of "black devils" roaming the area. Caldwell sent out a telegram: "Come and help me kill the blue tiger. New York offers 500 gold for pelt." Later on, Caldwell, accompanied by his son John C Caldwell, carried out unsuccessful searches in search of the blue tigers. On several occasions John noted seeing maltese colored hairs along the mountain trails they were searching, but he did not catch sight of a live blue tiger.
Another account of the same hunt is contained in "A Narrative Of Exploration, Adventure, And Sport In Little-Known China" written by his hunting companion, Roy Chapman Andrews (Associate Curator Of Mammals In The American Museum Of Natural History And Leader Of The Museum's Asiatic Zoölogical Expedition Of 1916-1917) and Yvette Borup Andrews (Photographer Of The Asiatic Zoölogical Expedition) published in 1918.
Caldwell wrote in his own book: "The markings of the animal were marvellously beautiful. The ground colour seemed to be a deep shade of maltese, changing into almost deep blue on the under parts. The stripes were well defined, and so far as I was able to make out similar to those of a tiger of the regular type." and his son wrote in "Our Friends The Tigers" (1954) of finding maltese (grey-blue) hairs of Futsing's blue tigers along the mountain trails when accompanying his father during his many searches for the blue tigers.
Richard Perry, in his book "The World Of The Tiger" reiterated that China's blue tigers were called blue devils because they were so often man eaters. More recently, there have been occasional reports of blue tigers in a mountainous region on the border between North and South Korea. Because North Korea does not welcome outsiders, it is not currently possible to investigate sightings. Slate-coloured tigers may represent a montane population of tigers where the colour has become fixed in a small, isolated and inbred population. Caldwell's hunting expedition indicates that blue tigers, if they are a separate race, prefer inaccessible regions where they are less likely to be encountered by humans. There are no blue tigers in captivity today - if there were, the recessive gene would make it easy to fix the trait. If a smokey blue tiger was born in the Woodland Park Zoo, this would be the only captive blue tiger. There are no blue tiger pelts in museums or private collections and the images here are artist's impressions. Note: the term "Maltese" means "slate grey" and comes from the domestic cat world; it does not refer to Malta as the origin of the blue tigers.
Is it possible that blue tigers are due to a manifestation of the chinchilla gene known as "shaded silver"? The Amur tiger is found in north eastern China and northern North Korea and Siberia and has produced white tigers. The South China tiger whose range covers Fujian province (near Taiwan) has not produced white tigers though the historic ranges of the Amur and South China tigers may have overlapped resulting in inter-breeding. The South China tiger is supposedly the "stem species", from which all other tigers evolved so it is just about possible that the chinchilla mutation occurred in the South China tiger where it causes the bluish shaded colour morph and has been inherited by its descendent species where it has combined with other genes to produce white tigers.
Selected Source:
www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-blue.htm
A smokey blue pseudomelanistic tiger was born in Oklahoma in the 1960s, the preserved speciment is shown in the section on black tigers.
In 1910, while in south-eastern China American Methodist missionary and renowned tiger hunter Harry R. Caldwell described a tiger coloured deep shades of blue and grey-blue. It was described as having a bluish-grey base colour which changed to deep blue on the undersides and stripes similar to those of a normal orange tiger. Caldwell attempted to shoot the tiger, but noticed two boys collecting plants nearby so he moved to a safer location from the shot. Unfortunately, the tiger disappeared. He wrote about the blue tiger in his book "Blue Tiger" in 1925 and noted that other sightings had been reported in the region.
There had been sporadic sightings of blue tigers in the Fujian Province of China since the early 1900s. Caldwell called the tiger "Bluebeard" and it became a personal mission to shoot the animal for its pelt. Although he never caught the cat, villagers confirmed the presence of "black devils" roaming the area. Caldwell sent out a telegram: "Come and help me kill the blue tiger. New York offers 500 gold for pelt." Later on, Caldwell, accompanied by his son John C Caldwell, carried out unsuccessful searches in search of the blue tigers. On several occasions John noted seeing maltese colored hairs along the mountain trails they were searching, but he did not catch sight of a live blue tiger.
Another account of the same hunt is contained in "A Narrative Of Exploration, Adventure, And Sport In Little-Known China" written by his hunting companion, Roy Chapman Andrews (Associate Curator Of Mammals In The American Museum Of Natural History And Leader Of The Museum's Asiatic Zoölogical Expedition Of 1916-1917) and Yvette Borup Andrews (Photographer Of The Asiatic Zoölogical Expedition) published in 1918.
Caldwell wrote in his own book: "The markings of the animal were marvellously beautiful. The ground colour seemed to be a deep shade of maltese, changing into almost deep blue on the under parts. The stripes were well defined, and so far as I was able to make out similar to those of a tiger of the regular type." and his son wrote in "Our Friends The Tigers" (1954) of finding maltese (grey-blue) hairs of Futsing's blue tigers along the mountain trails when accompanying his father during his many searches for the blue tigers.
Richard Perry, in his book "The World Of The Tiger" reiterated that China's blue tigers were called blue devils because they were so often man eaters. More recently, there have been occasional reports of blue tigers in a mountainous region on the border between North and South Korea. Because North Korea does not welcome outsiders, it is not currently possible to investigate sightings. Slate-coloured tigers may represent a montane population of tigers where the colour has become fixed in a small, isolated and inbred population. Caldwell's hunting expedition indicates that blue tigers, if they are a separate race, prefer inaccessible regions where they are less likely to be encountered by humans. There are no blue tigers in captivity today - if there were, the recessive gene would make it easy to fix the trait. If a smokey blue tiger was born in the Woodland Park Zoo, this would be the only captive blue tiger. There are no blue tiger pelts in museums or private collections and the images here are artist's impressions. Note: the term "Maltese" means "slate grey" and comes from the domestic cat world; it does not refer to Malta as the origin of the blue tigers.
Is it possible that blue tigers are due to a manifestation of the chinchilla gene known as "shaded silver"? The Amur tiger is found in north eastern China and northern North Korea and Siberia and has produced white tigers. The South China tiger whose range covers Fujian province (near Taiwan) has not produced white tigers though the historic ranges of the Amur and South China tigers may have overlapped resulting in inter-breeding. The South China tiger is supposedly the "stem species", from which all other tigers evolved so it is just about possible that the chinchilla mutation occurred in the South China tiger where it causes the bluish shaded colour morph and has been inherited by its descendent species where it has combined with other genes to produce white tigers.
Selected Source:
www.messybeast.com/genetics/tigers-blue.htm
