Rare White Tiger Cub Finds Her Voice
A rare white tiger cub, born less than a month ago, is beginning to find her voice, attempting to roar as she prowls her new surroundings at Dade City’s Wild Things Park in Florida.
As the Daily Mail reports, the tiger cub has been named Maylea by staff at the park, which is famous for Randy the Tiger Man. At just 4-weeks-old, the cub is exploring her surroundings and finding her voice, as evidenced by a recent video clip. Attempting her first roar as she examines the park, the tiger instead lets out a high-pitched screech. Undaunted, the cub tries repeatedly to vocalize like her elder brethren.
As MSN News notes, the park appears to be an excellent place for the tiger cub. According to TIG Media, the production team responsible for the video, there are distinct reasons the park is a good fit.
“The team at the venue are actively involved in a range of conservation activities with the many endangered animals that reside at the park, including Maylea’s family of white tigers,” they state.
Maylea’s birth is an important development for the conservation of the species. Possessing a pigment mutation that distinguishes them from Bengal tigers, the rare species is found throughout the Indian subcontinent, yet there are believed to be just 200 white tigers left worldwide.
The striking coloration of the white tiger is thanks to a mutation in a single pigment gene: http://t.co/0vfXPwNQC1 pic.twitter.com/RQu643jAdv
— WorldScienceFestival (@WorldSciFest) November 17, 2014
The team at Wild Things Park are engaged in the preservation of several species, including both Bengal and white tigers. A spokesperson for the park noted the tiger cub’s friendly impulses.
“She likes nothing better than to crawl up on the trainer’s lap or to lay her head on their feet as they are working,” they said. “With only 1000 breeding females let in the entire world of all species of tiger, their future is critical. The goal for us is to enhance wild species populations through support of wildlife conservation projects including native educational programs.”
In September, a white tiger was responsible for the death of a tourist at a zoo in Delhi, as the Inquisitr reported. A young man in his early 20s, who appeared intoxicated to bystanders, jumped into the tiger’s enclosure. After a few moments, the tiger pounced on the man, dragging him to the other side of its enclosure.
Visitors to the Wild Things Park are able to book group or individual encounters with Maylea, and after December, will even be able to swim with the young white tiger.
[Image: TIG Media via the Daily Mail]
