Parveen Kaswan, an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer who frequently shares fascinating facts about wildlife, recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to share pictures of ‘pseudo-melanistic’ tigers found in Simlipal, Odisha. On Friday, he posted the captivating images of this extraordinary tiger, along with details on its rarity and origins. Notably, the melanistic tigers – a rare gene pool on which the black stripes are far more prominent than the Royal Bengal Tiger’s – are found only in Odisha. They are often referred to as ‘black tigers’ due to their dense and dark stripe patterns.
“The black tigers of #India. Do you know there are pseudo- melanistic tigers found in Simlipal. They are such due to genetic mutation & highly rare. Such beautiful creature,” Mr Kaswan wrote on X.
Take a look at the pictures below:
The black tigers of #India. Do you know there are pseudo- melanistic tigers found in Simlipal. They are such due to genetic mutation & highly rare. Such beautiful creature. pic.twitter.com/X1TEw8r1cD
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) December 22, 2023
In the following tweet, the IFS officer also provided a brief history of ‘pseudo-melanistic’ tigers in Similipal. He noted that the first confirmed record dates back to 1993 when a young boy of Pdagad village shot down a ‘black’ tigress with arrows in self-defence. He also said that it wasn’t until 2007 that these tigers were officially discovered within the reserve, marking the beginning of a series of documented sightings.
“The first confirmed record of the now famous pseudo-melanistic tigers of Similipal came in 1993. On 21st July 1993 Salku, a young boy of Podagad village shot down a ‘black’ tigress with arrows in self-defense. The rare tigers were first officially discovered in STR in 2007. With time more were documented. They are due to rare genetic mutation and found in small population,” Mr Kaswan wrote.
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The IFS Officer shared the post just a day back and since then it has accumulated more than 147,000 views and over 4,000 likes. It even garnered numerous reactions from X users. While some called the images amazing, others called them gorgeous.
“Nature is amazing. Amazing creatures,” wrote one user. “Wow. All their stripes ran together like ink. Very interesting & beautiful,” commented another.
“What a sight! Hope we will be able to conserve this amazing wildlife forever,” added a third. “You are so lucky to be with such lovely creations of nature and God,” expressed another.
Meanwhile, Mr Kaswan’s post comes after the Union Minister of State for Environment, Ashiwini Kumar Choubey, told the Rajya Sabha that there are a total of 10 “black tigers” in India, all exclusively found in Odisha’s Similipal. As per the 2022 cycle of the pan-India tiger estimation exercise, the Similipal Tiger Reserve has 16 tigers, out of which 10 exhibit melanism, he said.
