Rare black tiger spotted at Odisha’s Similipal National Park

A video of a black tiger marking its territory at Odisha’s Similipal National Park has gone viral. The tiger was seen leaving scratch marks on a tree in the 15-second video posted on Twitter on the occasion of International Tigers Day.

Read | Once a militant hotbed, Assam's Manas National park sees increase in tiger numbers

Black or pseudo-melanistic tigers, with distinctive dark stripe pattern, are rare and have only been filmed in Similipal till date.

Forest Service Officer Susanta Nanda shared the clip along with a caption, sharing an interesting clip of a rare melanistic tiger marking its territory on international Tigers day.

The officer, who is known to share interesting wildlife videos on Twitter, said the black tigers have a unique gene pool and the tiger reserve is poised for a recovery in their numbers.