Are white tigers to be extinct?
White tigers are not extinct. They are not a separate species or subspecies to normally-coloured tigers, they are simply individuals of the Bengal subspecies with a genetic condition called leucism, which results in reduced pigmentation. This is not the same as albinism, which is a complete lack of pigment (an albino tiger would have no stripes, and pink eyes, not blue). The Bengal subspecies is the only subspecies in which leucism is known to occur. White tigers are not purely the result of inbreeding, as some websites suggest – they can and do occur in the wild. However, they are rare for two reasons. First, leucism is caused by recessive genes, meaning that two individuals carrying the gene must mate, and both must pass on the gene to the offspring in order for that offspring to be leucistic (if only one parent passes on the leucistic gene, the offspring will be normally-coloured, since the gene for normal colour is dominant over the leucistic gene). Second, being white is something
