A Rare Golden Tiger in Kaziranga National Park

Context

On National Tourism Day, Assam's Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a picture of a golden tiger on 'X'.

Background

A golden tiger, which is quite rare, has been seen in Kaziranga National Park for the first time in around three years.

About Rare Golden Tiger

1. Golden tigers: Also, known too as golden tabby tigers, are simply a unique color form rather than a separate subspecies, like white and black tigers.

   1. They are very rare to find in nature and even harder to find in places like zoos.
2. Genetic Reasoning : The golden tiger seen in Kaziranga National Park is a color  variant of Bengal tigers, resulting from a recessive gene known as "wideband".
   1. The Wideband gene diminishes the production of melanin during hair growth cycles. As a result, the agouti mutation, which involves the production of a specific protein in the skin, leads to the golden or blond fur coloration. Meanwhile, the 'tabby' mutation is what causes the appearance of orange stripes.
      1. The Tabby gene is what causes most of the striped patterns you see on domestic cats.
3. Black and Golden Tigers : Black and golden tigers occur because they carry a recessive gene that gets expressed when there's no dominant gene to hide it.
   1. If two tigers with dominant traits mate, their recessive genes stay hidden. But when the two tigers with the same recessive genes mate, these genes show up, which is what happens with black and golden tiger variations.

About Kaziranga National Park

1. Location :

   1. Created in 1908, it is in the northeastern part of India, in Assam's Golaghat and Nagaon districts.
   2. It is the oldest park in Assam covering an area of 430 Sq kms along the river Brahmaputra on the North and the Karbi Anglong hills on the South.
2. Recognitions
   1. It was declared as a National Park in 1974.
   2. It was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
   3. It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
   4. It was also recognized as an Important Bird Area by Bird Life International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
3. Ecological Features
   1. Kaziranga National Park is the largest untouched area in the Brahmaputra Valley floodplain.
   2. The park features four main types of vegetation
      1. Alluvial inundated grasslands
      2. Alluvial savanna woodlands
      3. Tropical moist mixed deciduous forests, and
      4. tropical semi-evergreen forests.
   3. It houses over 2,200 Indian one-horned rhinoceros, which is about two-thirds of their global population.
   4. The park is also a habitat for many other endangered species like Tigers, Elephants, Wild water buffalo, Bears, and Aquatic creatures such as the Ganges River dolphin.
   5. Kaziranga is a key location for various migratory birds.

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