How can they not be inbred when all of them are descendants of a single white tiger. Especially when the white color is of a recessive gene.
Where/what is this one white tiger of which you speak? White tigers have been shown to--although rare--appear in the wild (i.e. before human interaction and breeding). White tiger coloring occurs when a tiger cub receives two recessive gene alleles for the coloring instead of one or none.
An interesting history of white tiger breeding. I can not vouch for its truth: The National Zoo, Washington DC - In 1960 amidst much excitement, the National Zoo received one of Mohan’s daughters, a white cub named Mohini. Later, when Mohini became mature, her uncle Sampson, brother of her mother Radha was imported to be her mate. The first litter produced one white cub and two orange cubs but only the orange male Ramana, survived. The second litter produced two more orange cubs; one was stillborn, but the female named Kesari survived. The National Zoo efforts concentrated on producing white offspring. Mohini, who was born to her father and her sister, was now mated with her orange son, Ramana. Rewati, a white female born in 1970 was the surviving cub of this litter. At that time the worldwide population of white tigers in captivity numbered just three dozen. The next litter consisted of two white and three orange cubs and a day later another stillborn was delivered. Mohini crushed three of the cubs during her strenuous labor leaving only the white female cub Moni alive. Cincinnati Zoo, Ohio - The National Zoo loaned the Cincinnati Zoo the orange brother and sister pair Ramana and Kesari while it renovated its cat habitats. This pair was grandchildren of Mohan as well as great grandchildren of Mohan, and their father Sampson was the half-brother and uncle of their mother Mohini. In 1974 they bred while at Cincinnati producing a single litter that consisted of three white cubs and one orange cub. Ramana passed away a short time later. One white male from that litter, named Ranjit was eventually sent to the Henry Doorly Zoo, the other siblings returned to the National Zoo. In 1976 the Cincinnati Zoo borrowed an unrelated white tiger named Tony, on loan from John Cuneo of the Hawthorne Corporation and bred him to the lone female white tiger Kesari. Tony was a white cub, born to normal orange parents from a different bloodline then Mohini. Sumita and Bhim, the white siblings from this pairing were bred to each other many times. They produced white cubs with stripes and cubs that had almost no stripes. In April 1983 a litter of 3 white cubs, including the first pure white tiger born were sold to magicians Siegfried and Roy and formed the foundation stock for their white tiger program. Many other white and white-gene tigers were born at Cincinnati and sold or traded to zoological parks in the US, West Germany, Thailand, Japan and other counties for different valuable species. In 1989, Cincinnati Zoo received two new female white Bengal tigers. Sipra and Swapna were born in 1983 at Orissa Park in India and were pure Bengal tigers. Director Ed Maruska supported the idea of breeding white tiger genes into the Bengal population, however, the Bengal tiger was not an SSP approved animal so in the 10 years these sisters were at Cincinnati they were never bred and they passed away in the late 1990’s without contributing their genes to the US population. Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, Nebraska - In 1978, Henry Doorly Zoo received Ranjit, the son of Kesari and Ramana. Dr. Lee Simmons was in charge of the tiger-breeding program. He was a leader who was influential in his field and located expertise on all levels of species management to bring them together for the betterment of conservation. This was before the creation of the first Species Survival Plan and it was this collaboration among professionals that aided Dr. Seal to develop the concept of the SSP adopted by AZA zoos today. Dr. Lee Simmons was dedicated to improving the health of the white tiger gene pool. Henry Doorly built a stock of heterozygous tigers by pairing Rangit with normal colored tigresses, namely Mus Kative, Soma and Tanya. The sons and daughters of Ranjit by different mothers were crossed to produce litters of both orange and white tigers. Offspring were mostly healthy and free of defects, though there were individuals that had problems. Dr. Lindsey Phillips recalls operating on a 7-day-old tiger cub to correct gastric dilation. Heterozygous tigers Rajah and Sheba II and their daughter Obie were purchased from Baron VonUhl of Shrine Circus to enhance the gene pool of the Henry Doorly white tiger breeding program. Ranjit was bred to heterozygous Obie and produced litters of white and orange cubs. Racine Zoological Gardens, Racine, WI – In May 1984, a white female was born to a pair of orange tigers in the Racine Zoological Garden. The father of this cub was Chiquita, the brother to Tony, the white male owned by John Cuneo, purchased from Baron VonUlh of the Shrine Circus. Jim Witchie, a private breeder in Ohio, owned Chiquita. The mother of this litter was Bonnie, who was born at the Racine Zoo. Her father Bucky came from the Indianapolis Zoo. When Bonnie was accidentally bred to her father Bucky they produced a litter of white and orange cubs in 1982, revealing that Bucky carried the recessive white fur gene and had passed it on to his daughter. Columbus Zoo, Ohio – Ika, a three-legged white female tiger on loan from the Hawthorn Corporation was paired with a heterozygous female, Dally on lean from Cincinnati Zoo. In 1986 they produced a litter of 2 orange and one white cub.
"Mohan" was a white Bengal tiger imported to the National Zoo from India in the 1950s. I believe all "white" tigers in captivity today are descended from this one animal. This is inbreeding in the extreme. The worst part of the story is that the efforts to develop viable long-term zoo populations of endangered tropical tiger subspecies (Sumatran and Malayan) are in big trouble because there are fewer spaces available than needed due to the number of "generic" tigers--including all white tigers--that has has actually INCREASED in recent years. There are only a limited number of "rooms at the inn" and at this point too many are occupied by these pretty but--from a conservation standpoint--useless animals. The breeding of white tigers has continued despite the recommendations of the Tiger SSP, and this is one of the many reasons Lowry Park has had its AZA accreditation suspended.
This website (of course its the internet and cannot completely be considered fact, but it is the best that i have found) includes more details of captive white tigers and shows pedigree charts of the breeding. And while in the 1980s, there may not have so much inbreeding...but today there are massive amounts of it occuring, with so many physical and behavioral defects often seen in these animals. MUTANT BIG CATS
Looks like I really started something! All I meant is that white tigers are different from outright breeding of different species, and they've been in respected zoos for years.
Related to your response, and your earlier comments about "political correctness": not so long ago, chimp tea parties, elephant rides and selling marshmallows to feed the monkeys were staples of "respected zoos." What we view as appropriate changes over time, which is why I feel Busch Gardens and others are NOT doing the right thing. And in Costa Rica animals have the option of moving away from an area when a zipline is installed--as they pretty much all do. I've been on those things (fun for sure) and never saw as much as a sparrow.......
This quote makes my point! HOW do you put "elephant rides" in the middle of these things? There are STILL respectable zoos doing elephant rides! So why is that such an evil thing?
The only (somehow) accredited zoo in the US that I am aware still offers elephant rides is "Discovery Kingdom" (formerly Marine World/Africa USA). To anyone who is familiar with that place, nothing more need be added to my comment. And I never said anything about "evil" (that was someone else). How about we stick with "un-enlightened?!":
