Expert: Raphael Heng - 11/9/2007

Question
Can you tell me what the White Siberian Tiger's niche is?

Answer
Hello there Diane, thanks for your question.

I am afraid White Siberian tigers do not have natural niche because they do not exist in the wild. I don't deny that Siberian tigers may have the white genes within them, but there has been no records of a purebred white Siberian tiger.

Those white siberian tigers you see in zoos are not purebred white siberian tigers. All white tigers in zoos are descendent of a white bengal tiger called Mohan and his own daughter, Mohani. So to be honest, all white tigers are inbred because they have to be inbred to produce the recessive genes needed to have the white genes of white tigers.

All crossbred white tigers are said to be descendents of Tony(who is also a descendant of Mohan and Mohani). Tony's grandfather was a registered Siberian tiger, named Kubla. So Tony was the first white crossbred tiger. The reason for introducing siberian tiger's genes is said to help increase the size of captive white tigers.

Note that there have been no records in the wild of White Siberian tigers. And in captivity no purebred Siberian tigers are white, only crossbred ones. So if you had been to any zoo and they mention that their tigers are Purebred White Siberian tigers, they are most likely lying because such animal don't exist.

Anyway, if there are White Siberian tigers in the wild, although very unlikely, they will be like normal siberian tigers. They will be apex predators and population controllers, they control the population of prey, especially large prey. If prey animals have very high population, there will not be enough space or food to go around, that's where the population controllers come in to make sure the pollution of prey is at a suitable level.

If you want more in-depth answers on Siberian Tiger niche, please feel free to ask a follow-up.

---Raphael Heng