Horney chats & Sexcam deutschland: Beauty

Photo

captainusmc: Mascy

captainusmc:

Mascy

rorschachx: earthandanimals: rorschachx: How the White Tiger...

rorschachx:

earthandanimals:

rorschachx:

How the White Tiger Got Its Coat

Zoos are the only places where white tigers exist: Treasured for their enigmatic coats, they've been hunted to extinction in the wild. Now, for the first time, scientists have found the DNA behind this snowy coat. Researchers analyzed the genomes of 16 related orange and white tigers in captivity, fully mapping those of the three parent tigers to show that a mutation in one pigment gene called SLC45A2 is at play—the very same gene that drives lighter coloring in people of European ancestry, chickens, and some mice. The team also found thisSLC45A2 mutation in another 130 unrelated white and orange tigers, which helped confirm that in white cats it appears to silence red and yellow pigments but leave black untouched—hence the leftover stripes. The researchers are not yet sure how this happens; the mutated gene may alter the production of the pigment, melanin, they report online today in Current Biology. Some scientists had argued that white fur was a genetic defect intensified by inbreeding. But because the gene appears to affect only the cat's color, white tigers are simply genetically healthy variants of Bengal tigers, which, if bred carefully, might still survive well in the wild. Better captive breeding programs could improve their genetic diversity—perhaps spurring on the cat's eventual reintroduction into its native Indian forests.

Via Sciencemag.org

| image: Konrad Wothe/LOOK-foto

White tiger are by no means healthy. The gene does not only affect the cat's color. It affects their health greatly. Many white tigers are very ill. They will certainly not survive in the wild. They'd stand out like a sore thumb. Cubs would be killed instantly if not by their own mother than by predators.

Refer to this link for the TRUE facts about White tigers.

"The same gene that causes the white coat causes the optic nerve to be wired to the wrong side of the brain, thus all white tigers are cross eyed, even if their eyes look normal. They also often suffer from club feet, cleft palates, spinal deformities and defective organs."

http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/white-tigers/

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention, I will read the article you've suggested. What I will say, though, is that Science is a well respected peer reviewed science journal.