World’s first White Tiger Safari opens in Madhya Pradesh

April 5, 2016

World’s first White Tiger Safari was inaugurated at Mukundpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.
It was inaugurated and opened to public by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The first of its kind safari is situated adjacent to the Mukundpur Zoological Park. It is spread over an area of 25 hectares and has been built at cost of 50 crore rupees.
The safari houses three white tigers, including two females named Vindhya and Radha and one male named Raghu.
Background
The first white tiger in Madhya Pradesh’s was spotted in Vindhya region in 1915. However, the rare breed of the big cat spotted for first time died in 1920.
In 1951, a white tiger cub named Mohan was captured by Rewa Maharaja Martand Singh. Later the cub later became the progenitor of all known white tigers in the world after the Maharaja arranged for its breeding.
White Tigers in India: It is a pigmentation variant of the Bengal tiger. They have been reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar.
These tigers have white fur because lack of the pigment pheomelanin, which is found in Bengal tigers with orange colour fur.