ホワイトタイガーの赤ちゃん誕生、ニカラグアで初

【マサヤＡＦＰ＝時事】ニカラグアのマサヤにある国立動物園でこのほど、ホワイトタイガーの赤ちゃんが生まれた。母親に育児放棄されたため、人の手で育てられている。ホワイトタイガーの誕生は同国初となった。（写真はホワイトタイガーの赤ちゃん「ニエベ」。ニカラグア・マサヤの国立動物園で）
　赤ちゃんは、「ニエベ（スペイン語で雪の意）」と名付けられた。獣医師のエドゥアルド・サカサさんによると、生まれた時の体重は１キロ弱だった。
　現在、サカサさんの妻のマリナさんが哺乳瓶でミルクを飲ませている。マリナさんは、約７００匹の動物を飼育する同園と救助センターの管理を手伝っている。
　ホワイトタイガーの白い体色は劣性遺伝子によるもので、アルビノ（先天性色素欠乏症）でもトラの別の亜種でもない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/06-16:23）

A rare white tiger, named Nieve (snow in Spanish) was born at the Nicaragua zoo, and is being raised by humans after its mother rejected it, the director of the zoo told AFP.
Nieve came into the world a week ago, weighing just under a kilogramme at birth, said director Eduardo Sacasa.
Conservation group WWF describes white tigers as a genetic anomaly, with none known to exist in the wild. There are several dozen in captivity.
White tigers are Bengal tigers whose parents carry a recessive gene, according to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota which helps and studies felines. They are not albinos or a separate species.
Some parks and zoos inbreed white tigers, as white cubs draw more visitors, though this is often at the cost of malformations and other genetic problems, states the sanctuary website.
The Nicaragua zoo said Nieve was the first-ever white tiger born in the country, to a pair of yellow-and-black-coloured Bengals.
The cub's mother, rescued after she was abandoned by a circus, had inherited the rare gene from her grandfather, who was white.
Nieve was taken away from her mother, who rejected her, and is being bottle-fed by Sacasa's wife, Marina Arguello, who helps manage the zoo of some 700 animals and a rescue centre.
Arguello whispers sweet nothings into the tiny cub's ear while it suckles, and pats it lighty on the back afterwards.
She has not lost her appetite; every three hours she gets the bottle. If not, she screams... also if the milk gets too cold, said Arguello.