Roy began having a recurring dream in the early 1980s. "We didn't know there was such a thing as white tigers" Siegfried explains. "Roy had a dream about tigers who were white, no stripes, no color. I told him 'I guess you're dreaming in black and white.'"
Since then, they have not only learned about them, they have taken them into their family, and made a personal and financial commitment to work toward their preservation.
Learn how Siegfried & Roy are sharing the gift of the Royal White Tigers with the world through their White Tiger Habitat.
About the Royal White Tigers
• It is estimated that only one in every 10,000 tigers is white. As beautiful as they may look, the coloration is a curse in the wild where the color is used to blend in with the surroundings when stalking prey or hiding. As of June 1998 there were only about 30 white tigers in U.S. zoos, about 200 worldwide. Of that number, 58 are Siegfried & Roy's White Tigers of Nevada.
• Tigers are the largest members of the cat family, with their golden coats allowing them to blend into the landscape from dusk to dawn when they are most active. They can weigh more than 700 pounds and some stretch more than 13 feet from nose to tail.
• Unlike lions, who live together in groups called prides, tigers are solitary creatures who live, hunt, and eat on their own. They often travel long distances to find food and, when they do, can eat as much as 80 pounds of meat in one meal.
• It is estimated that the tiger population of the world has decreased at least 95 percent in the past century. There are five living species and three others are already extinct. They inhabit the continent of Asia and are found in zoos around the world.
• Although better known for their aggressive behavior, tigers can be quite gentle with each other. Tiger cubs are lovingly cuddled by mothers for warmth. Their long, stiff and highly sensitive whiskers provide an important aspect of their sense of touch, especially when hunting at night.
• Tiger cubs do not open their eyes until 6 to 14 days after birth, nursing from their mothers for the first three to six months of their lives. They start traveling with their mothers at five to six months to learn basic hunting and survival skills and will become independent and separate from their mothers between two and three years of age.
• You can identify a tiger by its stripes. Just as no two humans have the same fingerprints, no two tigers have the same stripe pattern.
• Tigers can talk with their tails. A tail that stands erect and wags slightly may be a friendly greeting. A tail that wags rapidly can
mean the tiger is excited. A lowered tail that twitches means – beware!
• Tigers have large eyes with good vision. Their day vision is about the same as humans, but in darkness their sight is six times more acute than humans.
