weazulgrl:

takingbackmyfirstamendmentrights:

thecapitalistblonde:

kcatwmyb

This is Kenny. He’s a white tiger with down syndrome.

No you guys don’t understand how much I need this handsome boy. LOOK AT HIM. HE IS SO PRECIOUS. 

OH MAH GOD.

it’s actually really common for white tigers to have genetic defects like this. there’s such a small gene pool for them that they’re all quite inbred. even the ones that look pretty normal are at least a bit cross eyed (the recessive genes also affect the neural wiring of the eyes to the brain).

there’s actually a lot of controversy with the breeding of white tigers in captivity. they’re not a species, they’re a result of two mutant recessive genes, they’re inbred in order to make it actually express itself, all captive white tigers can be traced back to a handful of captive white tigers some of which were crosses of different tiger subspecies, and genetic defects like physical abnormalities like physical defects and other health issues are very common, and on top of that any normal colored tigers that come out of it aren’t really fit for conservation breeding as they’re as much of a crossbreed of tiger subspecies as the white tigers that result from the breeding attempts.

they’re also not breeding them for the betterment of the captive tiger population, they’re breeding them despite all the genetic drawbacks so zoos can make money drawing people in. if they were breeding for the benefit of the captive tiger populations they wouldn’t be trying to breed them at all.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/12/white_tiger_controversy_zoos_shouldn_t_raise_these_inbred_ecologically_irrelevant.html
http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/white-tigers/
http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/meet-the-real-captive-bred-white-tiger/

happinesslove-company:

sweet dreams ♥ 

palaceee:

aaahhh favourite