Odin is six years old and 10 feet long from tail to nose. Odin lives at a Zoo in Vallejo, California, near San Francisco.
Odin with his British trainer Lee Munro.
Odin was hand-raised at the zoo. And after he was weaned, his British
trainer Lee Munro discovered his remarkable skill.
When a lump of meat was thrown into a pool of water, Odin would
happily dive in after it.
'He makes a funny face - and it's actually to close his nostrils to stop
the water from going into his nose.'
Not all big cats enjoy the water but for Tigers from the hot
climate of South-East Asia it's one way to cool down.
'Plus they hunt in and around water. They're an ambush
predator so they wait for prey to come down to the water.'
'When you actually see him dive underwater he looks so graceful,'
'Odin loves the water and he loves food,' he said. 'Not all big
cats will dive and swim underwater even for meat treats.'
Munro said tigers were the most powerful swimmers
out of all land-dwelling animals.
Tragically, within our lifetimes, zoos might be the only
places left to see these magnificent animals.
A century ago there were about 100,000 tigers in the wild.
Now there are just 2,500 adults, with the Bengal variety almost
extinct. None has been seen in the wild since the last white tiger
was shot and killed in 1958.
White tigers are the most rare. They get their white color from an
unusual and extremely rare genetic combination.
I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I did.
And they say cats don't like water.....
More about White Tigers:
http://www.indianchild.com/white_tigers.htm