The Golden Tabby Tiger or Golden Tiger is an extremely rare colour variation caused by a recessive gene and now found only in captive tigers. ... There are currently believed to be less than 30 of these rare tigers in the world, but many more carriers of the gene. A recessive gene may create a very unusual golden tabby colour variation, sometimes known as strawberry. Golden tabby tigers have light gold fur, pale legs and faint orange stripes. Their fur tends to be much thicker than normal. There are extremely few golden tabby tigers in captivity, around 30 in all. Like white tigers, strawberry tigers are invariably at least part Bengal. Some golden tabby tigers, called heterozygous tigers, carry the white tiger gene, and when two such tigers are mated, can produce some stripeless white offspring. Both white and golden tabby tigers tend to be larger than average Bengal tigers.