The Plush White Tiger and an Odd Member of The Cat Family
Like the real thing, the plush white tiger is not something you see everyday. Contrary to popular belief, white tigers are not a sub-species [of the tiger], but rather, get their unusual coloring from a recessive gene. Recessive genes are in no way connected to the plush white tiger, but they still are quite unique in the world of soft toys.
Another wild cat that isn’t on everyone’s radar, so to speak, is the margay. Sometimes referred to as a tiger cat, it’s very rare weighing no more than 7 pounds. Margay’s make their home in the rainforests of Mexico and Central and South America (east of the Andes mountains). Their fur is grey to cinnamon in color and is covered in dark brown spots. They have a round and short head and large eyes. Reaching lengths of up to 31 inches, their tail, which makes up 70 percent of their body length, is 20 inches long. They typically eat small mammals like rodents and monkeys, reptiles such as lizards, and birds.
The margay is the only species of cat that is able to climb down a tree head first like a squirrel; it’s able to do so by rotating its ankles around 180 degrees as it moves [down the tree]. It’s very adept at climbing and jumping and spends most of its time living in the trees. While the margay is known to be mostly nocturnal is can be active during the day. It’s a very elusive and secretive wild cat preferring to stay in parts of the forest that are the most remote and dense. Like tigers, they are a solitary animal except when it’s time to mate. Mating can takes place year round and after 70 days, females will give birth to one or two kittens, making a nest for the babies in a hollow tree hole.
The IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature – lists the margay as “near threatened,” which means in the near future, it’s quite likely it will face a high risk of extinction. Like so many wild cats, its main threats to its survival are destruction of its habitat and hunting for its fur. In addition, it’s often shot by angry farmers, who, according to the IUCN, do so because they raid stocks of poultry.
In a recently scientific documented case, scientists in the Amazon rainforests near Manaus, Brazil, heard a margay that was imitating the calling sound of a baby pied tamarin monkey. The high-pitched call is used to fool adult tamarin monkeys into thinking a baby [tamarin] in crying, thus moving them into the same vicinity as the cat whereby the margay will then attack if the opportunity should present itself.
Unlike the margay cat, white tigers can’t really be listed as “threatened” given there aren’t recognized as a species and there are none to speak of in the wild – they can only be produced by inbreeding a father who carries the white recessive gene coloring with a daughter, etc. A plush white tiger doesn’t have that problem, although you will find far more orange and black plush tigers than you will those that are white in color. If you have a love of tigers and are looking for something a little different in your stuffed animal, a plush white tiger is a terrific choice.
plush white tiger
Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010. Contact the author to obtain ed for republication.
Shelley Vassall is a writer and collector of the plush white tiger