3 White Lion Cubs Born Wild in South Africa
This month marked an incredible moment for the wild white lion population, as three new pearl-white baby lions were born at Pumba Private Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
content by Pumba Private Game Reserve
There is only one place in the world where white lions have been born, naturally in the wild, and that is in South Africa. The white colouration is caused by a recessive gene, known as leucism (very different from the commonly mistaken condition of albinism).
Most of the white lion population across the world today is the result of intensive captive breeding programs. The leucistic gene is recessive, meaning that it can be passed on to the next generation, and there is actually a 25% chance of the cubs inheriting their parents’ white coats.
That being said, the 'true' white wild lion population is extremely small, so the news of three new additions is an extremely welcome story. Endemically, white lions are from the Timbavati region in the famous geographical area of the Lowveld, which is almost at the entirely opposite end of the country from the Eastern Cape.
The white lion population of Pumba Private Game Reserve is actually the result of an incredibly successful conservation project. In 2007, the private game reserve introduced four lions (one white female, one white male, and two additional lionesses) with the goal of creating a self-sustaining, free-roaming pride of white lions.
2011 marked the project’s first major victory when the first litter of white lion cubs was born. And so their story continues to this day, over a decade later, with the addition of three new white lion cubs that are being celebrated.
Content by Pumba Private Game Reserve
Content by Pumba Private Game Reserve
Historically, white lions were never born in the Eastern Cape; in fact, the entire lion population of the area was hunted to extinction in the 1800s. The truth of the matter is that, as human encroachment increases and the effects of habitat loss worsen, it is conservation projects like the white lion project at Pumba that are giving vulnerable species and fragmented animal populations a fighting chance.
