These are the first shots of newborn white lions in the wild, and there are only 13 of them left.
Every child enjoys playing in the dirt, and these mischievous lion cubs are no exception. They’ll give their mother an extra headache, too, because three of the four new siblings are ultra-rare white lions, and cleaning the dirt out of their creamy coats will take a lot of licking.
These extraordinary pictures are the first-ever photographs of newborn white lions in the wild. They are found in just one place on Earth, the Greater Timbavati region in South Africa, where just 13 remain — and that total includes these cubs.
It’s serious work, being so young, so rare and so cute. But these boisterous characters have got their paws full exploring and practicing their play-fighting. So while the older members of the pride keep a watch for danger, the cubs have fun.
Two of the recruits are fully grown white lionesses, and they are members of a pride of six adults. Photographer Scott Ramsay, 39, of Cape Town, recognized the mother of the cubs: ‘She had piercing blue eyes, and together with her white coat, she was very attractive,’ he added.
The father of the children, on the other hand, is unknown since the children are not albinos, but rather have a genetic mutation that many Timbavati lions share.
The leucism pigment gene gives them blue or green-grey eyes instead of brown, and a pelt that remains white all their lives. Just like a human family trait, the recessive gene can lie dormant for generations and then reappear — so any of the tawny males could have fathered these cubs. It is even possible for two brown adults to have a litter of white cubs — but only if they are Timbavati lions.
The white lions have been known to the local Shangaan people for years, and its medicine men consider them to be animal angels. According to folklore, they were the first animals created by the gods, and their roar will be the final sound heard on Earth when life goes extinct.
According to folklore, they were the first animals created by the gods, and their roar will be the final sound heard on Earth when life goes extinct.
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