Coimbatore-based photographer captures rare ‘golden tiger’ in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park
The Hindu
Rare golden tiger photographed in Assam's Kaziranga National Park, may never be seen again, genetic mutation studied.
While the photo of a golden tiger shared by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on ‘X’ on National Tourism Day is leaving nature enthusiasts spellbound, the man behind the image feels that the rare encounter in the wild might never repeat again.
Wildlife photographer Gaurav Ramnarayanan from Coimbatore photographed the tiger with a rare golden coat during a safari in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park on January 24.
“The male adult golden tiger was sighted around around 3.30 - 4 p.m. when I was taking guests from Australia for a safari. Initially it was around 800 metres away and then it walked towards the safari vehicle, as close as about 80 metres, while moving along its own path,” said Mr. Ramnarayanan, who runs a travel photography company, The Wildside.
According to him, more than one tiger with the golden coat are believed to be in Kaziranga but the exact estimate is not known — whether they have existed at the same time or they came one after the other. The photo of a golden tiger that was photographed previously, said to be in 2019, is of a different tiger.
“It was quite exciting and I don’t think this will ever repeat again. Also, during previous sightings, they were either far away or in poor lighting conditions and no quality documentation happened,” added Mr. Ramnarayanan.
Prof. Uma Ramakrishnan from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, whose team studied the black or pseudo-melanistic tigers in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, is currently doing a study on the golden phenotype of Kaziranga using scat samples.
“This tiger looks golden because it has a mutation or a genetic variant, due to which the black colour is missing. Basically tigers have three colours – black, orange and white. In the case of this tiger, the black colour is missing and it is slightly faded. Even the orange is faded,” said Ms. Ramakrishnan.
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