“I don’t think it’s an accident that lions are the color they are,” says Funston. The animals also hunt at night, when a white lion would stand out even more. It would stand to reason that being white is not ideal for a lion, says Paul Funston, the senior lion program director for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization.Ī lion’s usual tawny color helps it blend into tall grasses and other vegetation. (See “ First-Ever Photos Show Wild Lion Nursing Leopard Cub.”) What’s more, only 50 percent of lion cubs-even normally colored cubs-survive their first year.
“As with all young animals born in the wild, babies are especially vulnerable to predation,” says McCabe. White lions might also be rare in the wild because they’re less likely to survive, but it’s surprisingly unclear how well the animals fare. WATCH: Here are some of our favorite unexpectedly white creatures from around the world.
“They are exceptionally rare to see fully grown in the wild however, we think more are born that don’t reach adulthood,” says McCabe. ( See pictures of rare white giraffes and other animals.) Technically, these animals are considered leucistic, not albino, because they have some pigment in certain areas, such as the eyes. While not completely unheard of, white lion cubs are uncommon because they can be born only if both parents possess a recessive mutation in a gene that makes colored pigments called melanins. And Mathonsi has been working in this area for 26 years. The cub is the first wild white lion that McCabe or his colleague, animal tracker Fanny Mathonsi, have ever seen. “I moved closer to the bank to investigate, and we saw the small head of a lion cub roll out from its mother’s teat,” says McCabe, who has been guiding at Ngala for two years. (This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.On March 5, wildlife guides at the Ngala Private Game Reserve in South Africa stumbled upon an unusual sight-a white lion cub in the wild.Īccording to Lyle Bruce McCabe, a field guide at the reserve, he was watching a male lion sleeping in the Timbavati river bed when he heard the call of a young cub squeak out of a thicket nearby. There have been reports in the past also about some animals not being taken care of properly by the zoo administration. The Karachi Zoo is one of the popular tourist spots in Pakistan's biggest city. Strict disciplinary action will be taken against the zoo management if any negligence is found after the cause of the death comes to light,” he said in a statement. “I am saddened to learn about the death of such a rare breed of animal. Karachi administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab has ordered an inquiry into the incident and summoned a report on the reasons leading to the death of the lion. However, social media is abuzz with unverified reports alleging that the lion, which was aged between 14 and 15 years and brought to the zoo from Africa in 2012, died due to lack of proper diet. The KMC looks after the zoo.Ī team of veterinarians, which performed an autopsy on the lion, said the animal also had pneumonia and its lungs had stopped working. The big cat was ill for the last 13 days and suffering from Pulmonary TB which was being treated by veterinarians but ''he could not recover and died due to his illness at 11 am today (Wednesday)'', Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) spokesperson Ali Hassan Sajid said. Pakistan's popular Karachi Zoo on Wednesday landed into a controversy after the death of a rare white lion.