Tigers, typically you think of a large orange cat with black stripes known as the Bengal tiger. However this is not always the case. Legend has it that there are color morphed or what is known as Polymorphism animals; in this case the blue (or Maltese*), the black and the very real white tiger. In this essay I will argue points for and against the fabled Blue Tiger.

While there is no physical or photographic evidence, be it amateur or professional, Tiger experts remain highly skeptical on the subject. Some suggest a possible explanation being they are just regular orange-coated cats covered in blue-tinged mud. Another possible explanation for the Maltese tiger is that in fact it’s not a separate species, but a genetic defect. Inbreeding is known to produce stranger colored animals, but blue is not a known side effect. There is also a little known genetic combination which results in blue toning.

Caldwell, a big game hunter, first encountered what he believed to be the Blue Tiger while he was watching a goat. After a notable distraction he lost sight of the tiger and was only able to prove his discovery from a few hairs. Though Caldwell is reliable, many of the other sightings are unreliable. Most other sightings are proven hoaxes, or told by unstable war veterans. The fact no stable evidence has turned up causes many people to be skeptic, and those that do believe to be a little disheartened.

In support of the Maltese Tigers, Maltese Cats defiantly exist. The most common is a domestic breed: the Russian Blue, but Maltese Bobcats and blue toned Lynxes have been recorded. For a very long time experts were skeptical in the existence of Black Tigers, we now have several pelts to prove they are real.

Dr Karl Shuker suggested Maltese tigers possessed two different parts of Recessive Alleles*. The Non-Agouti (s/s) and the Dilute (d/d), which combine to produce a solid blue-grey color, like that found in the Russian Blue, however the result would be a blue-grey tiger with no, or very little dark stripes. In order to get a Maltese striped tiger Pheomelanin* pigments would have to be un-present, but Agouti* present, to show the dark striped pattern. If factors such as lighting and weather conditions are accounted for, a reasonable match occurs such as with Caldwell’s sighting.

I personally believe there really are Blue Tigers, or more reasonably they were real, after all we have other blue cats so why not tigers? Possibly, they are extinct by now, as I don’t image being blue would end up as an advantage in a forest. Prey would be able to see them for miles, and hunters too.

In conclusion the existence of Blue tigers is still very much disputed. IF they are alive and well they would be in some hard to get place, if not the world has lost another wonderful animal. Weather Blue tigers are, or where real will still be argued until solid evidence has been found, but what you think is up to you.

*Maltese – As in the blue-grey color, not the county of Malta

*Pheomelanin - yellow to red-brown pigment.

*Agouti - a pattern of pigmentation in which individual hairs have several bands of light and dark pigment with black tips.

*Recessive Alleles - An allele that produces its characteristic phenotype onlywhen its paired allele is identical