Viral Video: Rare Black Tiger Spotted in Odisha’s Similipal National Park, Caught Marking Its Territory | Watch

Viral Video: In an extremely rare sighting, a black tiger was caught on camera marking its territory in Odisha’s Similipal Tiger Reserve. In the video, the black tiger is seen walking up to a tree, reaching up with its front paws and scratching the bark. Indian Forest Service Officer Susanta Nanda, who often shares wildlife videos, posted the clip on occasion of International Tigers Day. The video gives a glimpse of a tiger with a gorgeous black coat and orange stripes. Notably, black or pseudo-melanistic tigers, with distinctive dark stripe pattern are quite rare.

He shared the video and wrote, “Tigers are symbol of sustainability of India’s forests… Sharing an interesting clip of a rare melanistic tiger marking its territory on international Tigers day. From a Tiger Reserve poised for recovery of an isolated source population with a very unique gene pool. Kudos.” He further said the black tigers have a unique gene pool and the tiger reserve is poised for a recovery in their numbers.

Watch the video here:

Tigers are symbol of sustainability of India’s forests…
Sharing an interesting clip of a rare melanistic tiger marking its territory on international Tigers day.
From a Tiger Reserve poised for recovery of an isolated source population with a very unique gene pool. Kudos🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/FiCIuO8Qj4

— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) July 29, 2022

Parveen Kaswan also shared the video and informed that black tigers were first officially discovered in STR in 2007. He wrote, “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.”

The black or pseudo-melanistic tigers – with distinctive dark stripe pattern on a light background of white or golden – are rare and have only been camera-trapped in Similipal till date. The reason behind the majestic black stripes of melanistic tigers is mutation.