Black tiger: Soumen Bajpayee took a photo of a melanic tiger in Odisha.
An amateur photographer was lucky enough to capture one of Odisha’s rare black tigers on camera. Soumen Bajpayee was at Nandankanan Shrine last year when he saw the melanic tiger, which is on the brink of extinction.
The melanic tiger, a rare gene pool in which the black stripes are much more prominent than those of the royal Bengal tiger, is only found in Odisha. Their numbers are rapidly slipping, with only a handful of these ‘black tigers’ left today.
Bajpayee, a native of Panskura in West Bengal, was bird watching in Nandankanan in February last year when the melanic tiger appeared. Initially he did not even realize that he was looking at a tiger.
“While observing various birds and monkeys in the trees, I suddenly saw something that looked like a tiger, but not the usual tiger,” Mr. Bajpayee told NDTV. “At that time I had no idea about melanic tigers. Suddenly he appeared from the forest, stayed a few seconds and returned to the trees.”
The 27-year-old quickly pulled out his digital camera and managed to snap some photos of the black tiger.
“I’ve seen many tigers before, both in the wild and in captivity, but this one was completely different,” he says.
Photos of the black tiger are going viral on social media after appearing on Instagram.
Speaking about the melanistic tigers of Nandankanan, Mr. Bajpayee says: “There is a story behind the melanistic tigers in Nandankanan.
“In 1993, melanic tigers were first reported in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, and then again in 2007.
“After that, a few years later at Nandankan Shrine, a tigress gave birth to four cubs. Of them, two were melanistic.
“Those two cubs were taken care of immediately and their growth was monitored through CCTV. After a year, they were brought to light.”
“I could only see one tiger and I have no idea of the other melanic tiger,” he says.
Data collected from camera traps indicates that only six to seven melanistic tigers remain in India today. They are found only in Odisha.
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