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Panthera leo krugeri
HISTORY
Stories of white lions have been around since prehistoric times in Africa. They were supposed to be the children of the Sun God who had been sent to earth as precious gifts.
Many people dismissed these stories as being just local superstition. White lions were said to have been seen in 1928 and the early 1940s and two white cubs were seen just once near Tshokwane in the Kruger National Park in 1959. However, in 1975 a litter containing two white lion cubs and their tawny sibling was spotted in the Timbavati Game Reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park. The following year another white lion was discovered living with another pride. Because the mortality rate among lions is very high, and even higher among white lions, the original trio were captured and taken to live in the National Zoo in Pretoria, South Africa. This was fortunate as no white lions have been seen in the wild since 1994.
WHY ARE THEY WHITE?
The white lion is NOT a separate species of lion and it is NOT an albino. They have pigment visible in the eyes, paw pads and lips. The males grow pale manes and tail tips.
The white colour is the result of a recessive gene, called a chinchilla gene, which is a colour inhibitor. This can result in “white” lions being blonde, near white or even red! White lions are described as being leucistic rather than albinistic.
BREEDING
Breeding to produce white cubs can only take place if both parents carry the chinchilla gene. Of necessity, this involves a certain amount of line breeding, or inbreeding. For this reason, reputable zoos are breeding white lions sparingly and with careful regard for their lineage. Although they are now technically extinct in the wild, we are fortunate that there was more than one genetic strain taken from the wild. Here at the Darling Downs Zoo we were very careful to ensure that the animals that we imported were as genetically diverse as it was possible to achieve.
CONSERVATION
As earlier mentioned, the white lion has not been seen in the wild since the mid 1990s. Any conservation concern for this colour mutation must embrace the entire lion population of Africa. The white lion is not a separate sub-species of the African lion. It is pure Panthera leo krugeri. Therefore it’s conservation status is exactly the same as for the African lion. Recent population counts have revealed that the African lion is in serious trouble. Only a few decades ago the lion was common and hundreds of thousands of them inhabited the African continent. Now it is estimated that somewhere between 20 – 25000 are left. As if this isn’t frightening enough, the remaining wild lions live in fragmented populations and are unable to access other prides. This is inevitably resulting in inbred wild lions – a situation that was unthinkable only a few years ago.
OUR WHITE LIONS
In 2008 the Darling Downs Zoo was searching for ways to draw people's attention to the plight of African Lions. In collaboration with the Zoodoo Wildlife Park in Richmond, Tasmania we decided to import some white African Lions as an attention getter and as ambassadors for their tawny relations. It took us two years to locate the right animals and fulfill the requirements of the Australian government and the government of South Africa before the animals finally arrived in this country. Four cubs landed in Sydney in January 2010 and were taken to Tasmania to be quarantined. Having successfully completed their quarantine period, two of the cubs finally arrived at the Darling Downs Zoo in mid February 2010 while the other two remained at Zoodoo.
The cubs settled in very quickly and soon showed us their very different personalities. Media interest in their arrival was intense and, as a result, many people contacted us to suggest names for them. Eventually we chose names that best suited them - Shaka, meaning a ghostlike warrior god, for the male and Shenzi, meaning mischievous or monkeylike, for the female.
These White Lions are the only White Lions in Queensland. Only four zoos in Australia house White Lions making them very special animals indeed. Darling Downs Zoo and Zoodoo Wildlife Park have taken great care to ensure that the White Lions that we have imported are unrelated and are as genetically pure as possible. Over the years to come both zoos will, from time to time, breed from our White Lions in order to perpetuate the strain in this country. We would like to think that the other Australian zoos holding these beautiful animals will collaborate with us so that genetic diversity can be maintained in this country for many years to come.
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