Ultra-rare BLACK tigers in India: Pair of big cats with highly unusual coloring in national park

Two extremely rare ‘black’ tigers have been captured strolling around the Nandankanan National Park in eastern India.

The stunning creatures have only been seen in the Odisha state and experts have in the past couple of years claimed there were as few as seven to eight of them left in the region.

Black tigers get their distinctive appearance due genetic mutations called pseudo-melanism where their dark stripe pattern fuses together on light orange-golden fur, often making their pelt look entirely dark.

Amateur photographer Satya Swagat, 23, a business student from New Delhi, was only 30ft away as he took pictures of the rare animals – all males – last November and said he got ‘goose bumps’ at first sight of them.

He said: ‘I got goose-bumps when I first saw the melanistic tiger.

‘It was hard for me to believe my eyes and for a minute I forgot to pick up my camera as the big cat moved right in front of my eyes. ‘I was taken aback by the beauty of the rare tiger.

Sightings of black tigers have been pictured only in Similipal in Odisha since 2007, but they have been observed there from 1993

The photographers pictured the pair of tigers strolling around just 30ft away from him as he snapped the pics, saying he had 'goose bumps'

Experts have in the past couple of years claimed there were as few as seven to eight of them left in the eastern state of Odisha in India

Researchers have suggested the exclusivity in the genetic mutation comes from the fact that the tigers are inbred and rarely, if at all, interacted with other species outside the eastern Indian state

‘I kept my calm and the tiger obliged me with better sightings and better shots.’

Speaking of his lucky shots, the photographer said: 'Not many have seen them in the forest and not many people have been able to get that close to the rare cats'

He said he first heard of the melanistic tiger from his friends who had visited Nandankanan, adding: ‘Not many have seen them in the forest and not many people have been able to get that close to the rare cats.

‘I got the opportunity to photograph one tiger in 2020 but couldn’t manage any decent shots.

Such tigers, whose genetic mutation often makes their pelt look completely black, were rare even when the population of wild cats were plentiful in the country centuries ago

‘However, last November was different when I was able to capture not one but two different individuals.’

Such tigers were rare even when the population of wild cats were plentiful in the country centuries ago.

The photographer was stunned to see the wild cats, and said: 'It was hard for me to believe my eyes and for a minute I forgot to pick up my camera as the big cat moved right in front of my eyes'

The roaming creatures, just 30ft away from an amateur photographer, were pictured last November. A genetic mutation makes black tigers appear as if their black fur is more fused together rather than striped

In September a light was shone into Odisha’s elusive black tigers as researchers looking at the endangered animals in the Similipal reserve suggested the exclusivity in the genetic mutation comes from the fact that the tigers are inbred and rarely, if at all, interacted with other species outside the eastern Indian state.

Research into creature found a possibility that black tigers exclusive genetic mutation comes from the fact that they are inbred and isolated to the Odisha area

‘The researchers combined genetic analyses of other tiger populations from India and data from computer simulations to show that the Similipal black tigers may have arisen from a very small founding population of tigers and are inbred,’ Indian Express reported.

A black tiger was also spotted by a stunned animal lover in Odisha in late 2020, and snapped by amateur photographer Soumen Bajpayee.

Sightings of black tigers have been pictured only in Similipal in Odisha since 2007, but they have been observed there from 1993.

Financial Express reports alleged sightings of fully black tigers have been made as far back as 1773 when artist James Forbes painted one in Kerala.

Similar rumours were made in Myanmar in 1913 and 1950s China.