The Bengal white tiger is a protected animal in the world and a national treasure of India. The term "white tiger" usually refers to the Bengal white tiger, as only Bengal tigers have been observed as white.

However, the Bengal white tiger's fur is not caused by albinism, as albinism is characterized by white fur and pink eyes, while the Bengal white tiger's eyes are light blue.

The appearance of the Bengal white tiger is caused by a pair of recessive gene mutations in the Bengal tiger, which happens to be the gene for white fur. The prevailing theory as to why the Bengal tiger has a white variant is that the tiger went through an ice age, during which the best coat color was white.

When the ice age ended and entered the interglacial period, the white color was more likely to reveal itself, and the gene for white hair gradually changed from dominant to recessive, with the recessive ones surviving natural selection.

The Bengal white tiger was first discovered in 1820, after which it was captured and sent to London because it was too rare. Since then, there have been many accounts of people finding white tigers, but they were mostly seen in the wild and left little evidence.

It was not until 1915 that a man named Gulab Singh found a subadult white tiger while hunting in a jungle in Bihar, India. Afterwards, he offered this white tiger to the British royal family.

After the discovery of this white tiger, the white tiger almost disappeared from the wild. It was only in 1951 that Gulab's son, Martand Singh, found a 9-month-old white tiger cub hunting in the jungles of India, which Martand brought home and named "Mohan".

Since then, except for a white tiger shot in the wild in 1958, no more white tigers have been found in the wild. This is because the occurrence of white tigers is very rare, with a chance of less than 1 in 10,000, and they are easily spotted by their prey, making their hunting success rate extremely low.

The reason why people are against inbreeding the Bengal white tiger is that it can cause congenital deficiencies and other health issues. In the 20th century, in order to keep the white tiger's genes alive, people started to let Mohan breed with female Bengal tigers.

However, the female Bengal tigers gave birth to offspring that were all normal in color. So, people started to let the female offspring of Mohan backcross with Mohan, which produced white tigers. This backcrossing is a type of inbreeding and can lead to health issues in the offspring.

This kind of selective breeding for an ornamental animal is unacceptable to many people. White tigers are variants created by genetic mutation in their natural environment, but the environment in which they live and their habits dictate that they are easily eliminated in the wild.

The Bengal tiger, once thriving in great numbers, has seen its population dwindle to around 2,000 individuals in the wild. In response to this critical situation, the governments of Bangladesh and India have taken proactive steps by creating a network of nature reserves and launching wildlife conservation initiatives.

These efforts are aimed at safeguarding the remaining Bengal tigers and providing them with a safe environment where they can live, breed, and hopefully increase in number.