(ORDO NEWS) — Experts from the United States and India have been studying the population of tigers that are currently isolated from the Nankandan Biological Park. These animals are quite different from other tigers and have a more interesting appearance.
It is reported by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
About 50 years ago, there were reports that black tigers began to meet. The stripes of these animals were wide enough and merged, so it seemed that the skin was not red, but black. These tigers lived on the territory of the reserve, so crossing with representatives of another population could not occur.
After some time, the keepers of the reserve began to worry, because the tiger population began to decline. The reason for this was the ties between close relatives.
Experts analyzed the genome of black tigers and the results were then compared with animals from other populations. They found the reason why the stripes on the skins are noticeably different. This unusual abnormality is caused by a recessive single nucleotide that is responsible for coat color and texture in the feline family.
During the study, it was found that approximately 58% of all tigers that live in the Nankandan reserve have a genetic predisposition to the fact that their coat is predominantly black. An interesting fact is that outside the park it was not possible to find a predator that would have a similar mutation.
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