by The majestic white lion is considered to be an extremely rare animal affected by a genetic color mutation, resulting in white-colored fur. These animals aren’t albinos—the white lion owes its unique coat to the recessive trait called leucism, which makes the fur of the animal lose a part of its pigment while eyes and lips remain normal. Currently, there are only around 13 white lions living in the wild and around 100 of them living in ᴄᴀᴘᴛɪᴠɪᴛʏ.
Four white lion cubs born on November 6 in Nantong Forest Safari Park in China will make their first public appearance on Saturday.
The quadruplets-all for males-were recently clicked playing together and enjoying their meals. The four are being pampered by the zookeepers. The adorable baby lions are seen playing with each other and enjoying their meal – a bowl of meat mash – while being photographed by reporters.
They can be seen smiling for the camera in some pictures and being satisfied with the pampering they are receiving. In the footage, the four curious cubs are seen roaming around together. The rare lions seem all excited and curious to explore the world around them and see the public for the very time as they are getting ready for the big day.
According to the Nantong Forest Safari Park, the cubs were perfectly healthy and were growing very quickly. And after a month of round-the-clock care by the keepers, the little lions were being prepared for their first public debut which will take place on December 26.
White lions went ᴇxᴛɪɴᴄᴛ in their home lands due to commercial trophy ʜᴜɴᴛɪɴɢ, but the Global White Lion Protection Trust managed to reintroduce three prides to free-roaming conditions in their natural endemic habitat through its reintroduction programme.
According to the Global White Lion Protection Trust, there are less than 13 wite lions left in the wild and hundreds are in ᴄᴀᴘᴛɪᴠɪᴛʏ. However, the are listed as “ᴠᴜʟɴᴇʀᴀʙʟᴇ” by the IUCN Red List as white lions are yet to be recognised as an individual species. They are classified under the category of lion Panthera leo currently.
