Jamshedpur: No, it is not a mythical apparition. It is white deer. And, these white deer seem to have edged out tiger cubs for once in the popularity quotient at Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jubilee Park here.

Released in the 1,500sqm enclosure recently, six white deer - three male and three female - are the newest favourites among animal lovers.

Tata zoo vet Manik Palit said they had procured four normal (piebald) deer from Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh about a decade ago. The deer, which are albinos, were born here after breeding, he said. "Visitors are liking these beautiful animals," Tata zoo vet Manik Palit said.

He added the white deer were in the pink of health and extremely playful. "They feed on leaves, grass and gram. These deer have a life span of 18-20 years," Palit said about the Schedule 1 animals that are comparatively rare.

White-tailed deer can be albinos, with a classic appearance of pink eyes, but the eyes may appear dark from a distance. Globally, animal experts say there is another form of white deer, who have leucism, a recessive genetic trait. But, two Jamshedpur vets, Manik Palit and V.K. Singh, called the Tata zoo deer albinos.

For visitors, especially children, the white deer appear to be gentle charmers.

"Earlier I and my daughter came for the tiger cubs. But now I have developed a special liking for the white deer," said Mrinalini Jha, a Kadma homemaker who makes it a point to visit the animal habitat with her family every Sunday. Sudhanshu Mitra, a student of Jamshedpur Co-operative College who also loves coming to the zoo, said he loved the unusual colour. "The white deer look absolutely exotic," he said.

"They are cute," added Class VII student Bunty Singh of St Mary's Hindi School.

Right now, about 55 deer are present at Tata zoo. These include white deer, black buck, spotted deer, nilgai, barking deer and hog deer.