Blue tigers

Blue tigers

In support of the blue tiger theory, maltese coloured cats certainly do exist. The most common is a domestic breed, but blue bobcats and lynxes have also been recorded and there is a little-known genetic combination which results in blue tonings. On top of this, for a very long time experts considered the black tiger mythical. We now have several pelts to prove otherwise. Something we can probably conclude is that maltese tigers were of the South Chinese subspecies. Fujian Province is the area most famed for the blue colouring and that was once a stronghold for this tiger. But few, if any, of these tigers exist in the wild now and the number of blue sightings is out of proportion to the tiny population (perhaps 30 cats) which may remain. Admittedly, inbreeding produces some odd colour combinations, but this usually tends towards melanism; blue is not known to be a side effect.

Blue tigers