@Roberta,
wikipedia wrote:There are reports and one painting (now lost) of pure black non-striped tigers (true melanistic tigers). Most black mammals are due to the non-agouti mutation. Agouti refers to the ticking of each individual hair. In certain light, the pattern still shows up because the background color is less dense than the colour of the markings.
So-called black tigers are due to pseudo-melanism. Pseudo-melanistic tigers have thick stripes so close together that the tawny background is barely visible between stripes.[1] Pseudo-melanistic tigers exist and can be seen in the wild and in zoos.[1] Such tigers are said to be getting more common due to inbreeding. They are also said to be smaller than normal tigers, perhaps also due to inbreeding or because large black leopards are misidentified as black tigers.
Extremely rare doesn't do it justice - have you got provenance of this photo (because it could be shooped)
Wikipedia's list of sitings is short.
Sightings (1970–current)
The white tiger cub that changed colour, with its mother and a normal white sibling at Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Chennai.
In the early 1970s, Oklahoma City Zoo's pair of tigers had three cubs that were abnormally coloured. One had the normal background color but all four limbs were abnormally dark. The second had dark feet, though these gradually grew lighter as it matured and became the normal colour when it reached adulthood. The third had the normal background colour, but considerable darkening over the shoulders, down both front legs, over the pelvis, and encompassing both back legs. The darkening was more-or-less the same color as the stripes. The striped pattern was only visible over the darkened areas. Two of the three cubs were killed by the mother, leaving only the dark-footed cub. The black cub was preserved in formalin.[citation needed]
In 1999 L. A. K. Singh[8] gave a very detailed account of the Melanistic Tiger in India. During the winter of 1975/6, two adult black tigers were seen in bright sunlight on the road leading to Matughar meadow; the sighting was made by Odisha forest service officials accompanied by two foreign tourists. In 1991, a black cub was seen with two adults and a normal colour cub at Devasthali, though this sighting was dismissed as an optical illusion. During 1996, adult black tigers were observed several times. A yellow-striped black tiger was seen near Baladaghar. A black tiger was seen near Bachhurichara, between Patabil and Devasthali. Some time later, a yellow-striped black tiger was seen between Patabil and Devasthali.
In 1992, the pelt of an apparently melanistic tiger was confiscated from a hunter and smuggler at Tis Hazari, south Delhi. The top of the head and back were black, while the sides showed shadow striping on a black background colour. The pelt was exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi, in February 1993. In 1993, a young boy shot a melanistic female tiger in self defence with a bow and arrow, near the village of Podagad, west of Similipal Tiger Reserve. Initial examination suggested the background colour was black with white abdominal stripes and tawny dorsal stripes. According to Valmik Thapar in Tiger: The Ultimate Guide, the only proof of black tigers is a skin with a black head and back. K. Ullas Karanth wrote in The Way Of The Tiger that a partially black tiger was recently killed by poachers in Assam.[9][10]
In August 2010, it was reported that one of three white tigers born that June in the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai had changed its colors, with most of its body and legs having become black(pseudo melanistic).[11] By October, the stripes on the cub, called Chembian, had changed to brown.[12][13][9][14]
In July 2014, a 5 year old white tigress of Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, Odisha gave birth to four cubs and of these one was black (pseudo melanistic). This was the first instance of birth of a black tiger in captivity in India and second recorded instance internationally.[15][16]
In August 2014, a 25-day-old allegedly black tiger cub has born in Hangzhou, China.[17] However, the black cub's photos shows round marks on coat like those of a black jaguar or leopard.[
