After nearly 14 years of technical extinction in their natural endemic habitat, three snow white lion cubs have been born to the project in the Greater Timbavati region.

Historical Perspective
More elusive than the African leopard, rarer than the legendary Snow Leopard of the Himalayas, and as white as the polar bear of Alaska, the birth of these three cubs is a momentous occasion that heralds a new era for this rare lineage.

There are only an estimated 500 white lions worldwide - in captivity. Regarded by African tribal elders as the most sacred animal on the African continent, this rarest of rarities have been hunted to extinction in the wild by trophy hunters and poachers who pay astronomical sums to shoot a white lion for pleasure. They have also been hunted in captivity in a notorious malpractice known as ‘canned lion hunting.’ No law protects them from being wiped off the face of the earth.

White Lion Reintroduction Project
Initiated by the Global White Lion Protection Trust (WLT), a challenging world-first White Lion reintroduction program has yielded extraordinary results in returning the white lion gene to the white lions’ endemic habitat. Since the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve still allows lion trophy hunting and does not distinguish white lions from other lions, the Trust has established a conservancy within the white lions’ greater endemic range in order to safeguard these rare animals.  In a carefully phased long-term reintroduction program, four white lions of the highest genetic pedigree were introduced into their natural habitat in 2006, and scientific research has been ongoing to monitor their progress.

The founding pride wowed the world by hunting self-sufficiently within eight weeks of their release, but one year later tragedy struck when the mother of the three sub-adults died while hunting and providing for her young. The youngsters had to survive without their mother against great odds. At the best of times, up to 80% of lions in the wild do not survive to adulthood. However, the three cubs were experienced enough to hunt for themselves and pulled through. After the introduction of a new bloodline, two separate prides have been formed. The two males, Regeus and Letaba have bonded with two wild golden / tawny females, Nyeleti and Khanyisa, whose parents originate from the endemic region.

The white female, Zihra was joined by a white male from a different genetic lineage, and now has her own family of three white cubs - the first to be born in the reintroduction program, within their greater endemic range.

Genetic Study
One of the fundamental questions that needs to be addressed in the quest to protect the white lions is why some Timbavati lions are white rather than the more typical tawny colour exhibited by most lions.  The occurrence of different coloured morphs is controlled by the relative frequency of the genes that control coat colour within populations.  The gene controlling the manifestation of white fur is recessive, and requires two parents carrying the recessive gene to mate in order for some or all of the offspring to have white fur.   Determining which gene is involved in this process and its frequency within the population is extremely challenging due to the sheer number of genes that may be involved.  It is however essential in order to assess the long-term viability of the remaining white lions in the wild. 

Conservation ecologists, Dr Dan Forman and Carolyn Greig from the Institute of Environmental Sustainability at Swansea University, have recently begun to work together with the WLT’s lion ecologist, Jason Turner to begin the difficult task of screening lion DNA to identify which gene controls white coat colour.  Using DNA extracted from fur samples provided by West Midlands Safari Park from their captive white lions, two candidate genes known to cause white coloration in other mammals, the melanocritin-1 receptor gene and melophilin, have initially been screened using molecular techniques.  Preliminary results indicate that neither of these genes are likely to control white fur colour in lions.  Further more detailed analysis of this data will provide a more conclusive picture, but it is likely that many more genes will have to be screened before an answer will be found.  It is hoped that a close working relationship between Swansea University and the Global White Lion Protection Trust will help facilitate further screening of other candidate genes and research on the evolution and adaptive significance of white colouration in lions with the ultimate aim of protecting the white lion as an evolutionary significant unit (ESU) or management unit (MU) for biodiversity conservation.

About the Global White Lion Protection Trust
Established in 2002 by author and conservationist, Linda Tucker, the Global White Lion Protection Trust (WLT) is a South African based non-profit conservation and community development organization. Operating in the greater Timbavati bushveld region, the WLT is responsible for protecting the white lions and developing the related cultural values that hold them sacred.

The WLT campaigns for legislation to protect of the critically endangered White Lion in its endemic wild habitat in the Timbavati region at both provincial and national levels and is pursuing National and World Heritage status for the White Lion site in the region.