Rare white tiger born at zoo in Nicaragua
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Ms Marina Arguello, who helps manage the Nicaragua zoo, holding up Nieve - which means snow in Spanish - a rare white tiger which was born a week ago weighing just under a kilogram.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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MASAYA (Nicaragua) • A rare white tiger named Nieve, or snow in Spanish, was born at the Nicaragua zoo, and is being raised by humans after being rejected by her mother, the director of the zoo has said.
Nieve came into the world a week ago, weighing just under 1kg at birth, zoo director Eduardo Sacasa told AFP.
Conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature describes white tigers as "a genetic anomaly", with none known to exist in the wild. There are several dozen in captivity.
White tigers are Bengal tigers whose parents carry a recessive gene, according to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota which helps and studies felines. They are not albinos or a separate species.
Some parks and zoos inbreed white tigers, as white cubs draw more visitors, though this is often at the cost of malformations and other genetic problems, according to the sanctuary's website.
The Nicaragua zoo said Nieve was the first white tiger born in the country, to a pair of yellow-and black-coloured Bengals.
The cub's mother, rescued after she was abandoned by a circus, had inherited the rare gene from her grandfather, which was white.
Nieve was taken away from her mother, which rejected her, and is being bottle-fed by Dr Sacasa's wife Marina Arguello, who helps manage the zoo of some 700 animals and a rescue centre.
Ms Arguello whispered sweet nothings into the tiny cub's ear while she suckled, and pat her lightly on the back afterwards.
"She has not lost her appetite; every three hours she gets the bottle. If not, she screams... also if the milk gets too cold," said Ms Arguello.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
