Rare Footage Captures Black Tiger Cub Roaming With Mother in the Wild

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda has shared a video of a black tiger cub roaming in the wild under the protection of its mother. The video appears to be captured at night by a hidden camera. In the rare footage, a little black tiger cub moves closer to the camera, while its mother follows the cub. Initially, the two can be seen walking toward the camera. However, moments later, they walk out of the frame.

While sharing the video online, the IFS officer stated that the spotting of a black tiger cub is extremely rare. He tweeted, “I am sure you must not have seen the clip of a black tiger cub with its mother in the wild. Abundism is a variant of pigmentation, identifiable by enlarged stripes covering a large part of the body of the tiger making it appear melanistic. Some refer to it as pseudomelanism also.” Watch the viral clip below:

For those unaware, pseudomelanism is an unusual genetic trait found in tigers whose thick stripes are packed together such that their orangish-brown skin is barely visible between the stripes. This phenomenon covers a larger portion of the animal’s body with black stripes. Pseudomelanism was spotted in the tigers of Simlipal, Odisha, and a team of scientists has conducted research to study their rare genetic mystery.

According to Civils Daily, tigers have a distinctive dark stripe pattern on a light background which is often golden, orangish-brown, or white. But after the spotting of a rare pattern variant, which was distinguished by stripes that are broadened and fused together, the researchers named it pseudomelanism. The phenomenon is different from true melanism and is recognized as a condition where unusually high deposition of melanin causes more dark pigment.

Within hours, the viral video shared by the IFS office garnered traction on the micro-blogging site. While responding to the video, a user said, “That’s good! It can camouflage really well as it grows.”

Meanwhile, an inquisitive netizen asked, “Any specific reason why it is mostly found in Odisha?”

The clip has amassed over 6k views and hundreds of likes on social media.

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