Tiger spotted in Nilgiris not white tiger: Official

The 'white tiger' spotted in the Nilgiris was a normal tiger suffering from leucsistic, a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation resulting in white colouration, a forest official said today.

"It is a normal tiger with more quantity of white pigmentation. Not a white tiger, as made out to be," Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) Director Srinivas R Reddy told reporters here.

He was responding to questions on reports in a section of media quoting a wildlife photographer as having spotted a 'white tiger' in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.

'Leucsistic' is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes.