Watch Ultra-Rare Black Tigers on a Trail Cam in India

There are a handful of “black tigers” (pseudo-melanistic tigers) in the world, and they live in the Odisha forests within India’s Simlipal Tiger Reserve. Susanta Nanda with the Indian Forest Service (IFS) shares updates about these incredible animals every once in a while on X. Sometimes, the updates include footage of these ultra-rare animals on trail cameras placed with the reserve.

One of Nanda’s videos from earlier this year is making the rounds on the internet. The video shows a family of four black tigers standing in front of and walking past a trail cam at night.

“This is one of the rarest of the rare,” Nanda wrote in the video caption. “A complete Pseudo melanistic tiger family from the forests of Odisha.”

These pseudo-melanistic tigers have a genetic mutation called melanism that affects their coloring. Melanism is the excess of melanin (a pigment) in animals’ cells, which often makes them appear black or, at least, blacker than their counterparts without the mutation.

In this case, pseudo-melanism presents as “unusually wide and merged stripes,” which gives the tigers a higher percentage of black fur than a typical tiger.

Watch the video here:

Here’s another trail-cam photo Nanda shared of a pseudo-melanistic tiger during the day:

Best Trail Cameras to Watch Wildlife

Learn more about the best trail cams here.

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Earlier this year, the local government announced an exclusive melanistic tiger safari near the Similipal Tiger Reserve.

Did you know that these beautiful animals existed?

Source: https://outdoors.com/watch-ultra-rare-black-tigers-on-a-trail-cam-in-india/

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