The photo of Ultra Black Tiger in Odisha got viral. See pics.

By Ishank Katyal

Soumen Bajpayee, an amateur photographer in Odisha was had a lucky day today as he got to click the picture of Odisha’s rare Ultra Black Tiger.

Bajpayee was at Nandankanan Sanctuary last year when he found this melanistic tiger which is at the verge of its extinction.

In this rare Black Tiger, the black stripes are far more prominent than the Royal Bengal Tiger. Their numbers are dropping fast and only handful of them are surviving in the world.

Bajpayee is a native of Panskura in West Bengal who works as a wildlife photographer and was bird watching in Nandankanan Sanctuary in February when he spotted this rare specie of tiger.

In an interview with NDTV, Bajpayee said, “While I was watching various birds and monkeys in the trees, I suddenly saw something which looked like a tiger but not like the usual tiger. Back then I didn’t have any idea about melanistic tigers. It suddenly it appeared from the woods, stayed for few seconds and walked back into the trees.”

The 27 year old quickly pull out his digital camera and snapped a few pictures of the black tiger and posted it in the social media.

“I have seen many tigers before – both in the wild and in captivity – but this was a completely different one,” he says.

“In 1993, the presence of melanistic tigers was reported for the first time in Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, and then again in 2007. After that, a few years later in Nandankan Sanctuary, one tigress gave birth to four cubs. Out of them, two were melanistic. ” Bajpayee told the story of the Black Tiger to NDTV.