Are Blue Tigers Real? Just Myth

Sorry to say, but it’s a myth still at the start of 2024. Sightings of blue tigers are present, but there is no scientific evidence, such as their image or body, that proves that blue tigers really exist.

This was a quick answer according to your basic reqirement, but there are many sub-topics that I am going to cover. These topics give me hope that these adorable creatures are present and that we can witness them with our own eyes.

Let’s go and talk about whether these tigers can exist in any corner of the world or they are just a cryptide like Bulldog fish.

We will also go through a scientific theory that is in the right of the existence of these massive blue cats.

When There Is No Strong Evidence Available: Why This Rumer Still Exists?

The universe and nature collaborate and try to surprise us often with surprises like the ones we have today. 

After the first sighting by Sir Harry Caldwell (who was on a mission to spread his religion with his team in Fujian, China), the news spread like a forest fire. He claimed that he had suddenly seen a bluish-colored tiger. 

At first, he understood it was a person in the bluish fur of a tiger, but soon, he realized it was a tiger. At the time, his companion (Roy Chapman Andrew) (Associate Curator Of Mammals In The American Museum Of Natural History And Leader Of The Museum’s Asiatic Zoölogical Expedition Of 1916-1917) was with him. He tried to hunt it, but due to the presence of children near the tiger, there was a chance to kill a child in case he missed the target. 

After this, Sir Harry Caldwell wrote a book (Blue Tiger) about his campaigns. Here, he also talks clearly about this cryptid. 

Second Sighting 

After 50 years of Caldwell’s claim (1960), Oklahoma Zoo claimed that a tiger child was born with bluish-grey fur, but misfortune happened. Its mother killed it, and later, the management team preserved it in a jar to make it a specimen. 

I saw images of it, but it does not seem as real as they claimed. Instead, I talked with individuals in that area who proved me right, but some of them were pretty sure about this happening. 

These sightings and more claims from other people like civilians, farmers, and even a sun of soldiers claimed its existence. 

According to the soldier’s son, “His dad talked about this with him, and that he saw such a scene during their campaign near Korean borders, but due to legal allegations, he aborted entering the area for more investigations. (From Mystery Cats of the World By Karl Shuker).

All these claims were the reasons that empowered this news, but we are still unable to see nature’s this miracle. 

Can The Tigers Really Exist Or Fake? What Science Says; 

Mutation in genes can cause bluish color in cats, and it is proven and has scientific evidence in the morph of British and Russian blue domestic cats. Blue Bobcats confirmed the theory correctly, but how can it be implemented in tigers? 

To understand it, you should be mindful. 

The Agouti gene is a type of gene that manages patterns in animals of different forms. In the case of domestic cats’ blue color, such cats own a dilution gene. This is the gene that has the power to make changes in fur colors. 

Combining both genes, a tiger can turn his traditionally orange fur to dark grey, light bluish. Here, the agouti gene usually works, but the dilution gene makes changes and turns normal fur into Maltese, which we call Maltese tigers due to their fur color. Here, another question arises: do Maltese tigers exist? If yes, how many live in the world at the time?

No, the Maltese tiger’s tale is like a blue tiger because both are alike. Their name is derived from Maltese cats that are present on Malta island and have the color light blue-grey (Maltese). 

Overall, Maltese tigers are still a myth, and they have human sightings against proven evidence that seems like fairy tales. 

So, if a genetically possible option is available, why don’t scientists try to make their existence real?

If they make changes in such a way manually, there are solid chances for different body deformities, as we experienced in the case of white tigers. They were preserved for money, not for the ecosystem. 

Against it, if Mother Nature wants to grant us such magnificent creatures, it is possible without any chance of deformities. 

With the help of inbreeding (a process of mating close family members like father and daughter or brother and sister), South China tiger species can make such changes. It is because it is the earliest tiger species, and if inbreeding happens here, the bluish tiger can appear. 

There is another misfortune for us: no such tigers remain in the wild, but in captivity, 100 to 250 individuals remain in China.

Conclusion

We could not prove it, but sightings in different regions gave us their intro. Besides China, people from different regions of Korea and Burma also talk about it. A resident of Bangladesh, also called this unique creature Bengali blue tiger. 

Incidents on such massive measures cannot be coincidences. Besides this, blue tigers live in areas where humans cannot intrude easily.