An amateur photographer managed to capture images of the exceptionally rare black tigers, which live in the Nandankanan National Park, in the Indian state of Odisha, reports Daily Mail. Experts say that these cats have only been seen in that area, and currently , there are a maximum of seven or eight specimens left in the region.
Satya Swagat, a student from New Delhi, was just thirty feet from the tigers when he managed to take the photos last November. Seeing two melanistic males, he got “goosebumps,” the young man said.
“My eyes couldn’t believe it and for a moment I forgot to grab the camera when the big cat moved right in front of me. I was stunned by the beauty of the rare tiger,” he added. Swagat then calmed down and the animal ‘posed’ for the photographer.”
Black tigers were rare even when India’s wild cat population was abundant centuries ago.
Last September, a group of researchers who studied the animals that inhabit Simlipal National Park, a tiger reserve in Odisha, suggested that the presence of this genetic mutation in the area is due to the fact that tigers are inbred and rarely breed. they come into contact with other species outside the region.
The characteristic appearance of black tigers is due to a genetic mutation called pseudomelanism. This variant of animal pigmentation causes the dark stripes to widen until they merge into even wider ones, often resulting in the animal’s fur appearing completely dark.