Golden Tabby Tiger

Golden tigers may occur in the same litter as stripeless or nearly stripeless tigers. This is due to the effect the wide-band gene on the normal orange color and the white color respectively. The wide band mutation is not found solely in white tigers and may also be carried by normal coloured tigers, however carriers the wide band gene are probably no longer found in the wild. Wild-born golden tigers might be disadvantaged as they are less well camouflaged than normal orange tigers. The last known wild Golden tigers were shot outside Mysore Pradesh, India in the early 20th century. But there are just under 30 left in captivity.
Golden tigers in zoos
Few zoos have bred or exhibited golden tigers and many have no knowledge the color or its mode inheritance. It therefore usually appears by accident when breeding orange and white tigers together rather than through planning. As white tigers and heterozygous normal colored tigers are traded and loaned between zoos and circuses for breeding, if they also carry the wide band gene, that gene becomes widespread. When their descendants are mated together, the golden tiger color is passed on to the fspring if both parents are gene carriers. Unless golden tabby cubs are born, the zoos may have no idea that the parents carry that gene.