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About White Lions

More elusive than the African leopard, rarer than the legendary Snow Leopard of the Himalayas, and as white as the polar bear of the Alaska, rumours of the existence of pure White Lions have lived in the African Oral Tradition for centuries. But there is only one place on earth were they have materialised: the Timbavati region, bordering the Kruger National Park of South Africa.

White Lions once made a significant contribution to the biodiversity of the Greater Timbavati region. According to recorded history White Lions survived successfully in their natural distribution range for at least 56 years - and in all likelihood, much longer. After they were ‘discovered’ by Europeans in the 1970s, White Lions were artificially removed from the wild to captive breeding and canned hunting operations.

These captive operations as well as zoos specifically bred White Lions because of their rarity and exploited them for financial gain. Along with these removals, lion culling in the Kruger National Park (especially in the 1970’s) and lion trophy hunting in the Timbavati have depleted the gene pool. This has contributed to the drastic decline in the frequency of occurrence of White Lions and ultimately a 12-year technical extinction in the wild.

The Global White Lion Protection Trust (WLT) is now working to ensure the re-establishment and continued existence of the White Lion gene in the Greater Timbavati through a carefully monitored reintroduction programme and genetic study.

10 Facts about White Lions

1. White Lions are not albino lions. They have blue or gold colouration in their eyes, black features on the tip of their noses as well as ‘eye-lining’ and dark patches behind their ears – ‘follow-me signs’. Albino lions lack pigmentation and have a characteristic pink or red colouration to their features. White colouration in White Lions is due to a recessive gene and similar to blue eyes in humans.
2. White Lions originate naturally in one region only on Earth: the Greater Timbavati and southern Kruger Park region in South Africa. Once birthed naturally to golden lion prides, White Lions made a significant contribution to the natural biodiversity of this region.
3. White Lions have been technically extinct in the wild for more than 12 years. After they were "discovered" by Europeans in the 1970s, White Lions were artificially removed from the wild to captive breeding camps, hunting operations and zoos across the world. These captive operations specifically bred White Lions for their rarity.
4. White Lions are perfectly adapted to hunting in their natural habitat. The Greater Timbavati region is characterised by white sandy riverbeds and in the winter the long grass is scorched pale. In their natural habitat, the White Lions are ‘apex predators’ - hunting successfully during the day and at night, killing prey as large as giraffe.
5. White Lions are not legally protected in the wild or in captivity. They can be sold, traded and hunted. Through dedicated scientific study, the Global White Lion Protection Trust is working to have White Lions classified as a rare variant or regional polymorphism of the African lion so that they may be formally protected locally, nationally and globally.
6. The Global White Lion Protection Trust has reintroduced a pride of rehabilitated White Lions to semi free-roaming conditions within their greater endemic habitat - the Greater Timbavati region. They are now hunting for themselves and are completely self-sufficient in their natural habitat.
7. The White Lions in the Trust’s Reintroduction Program are never touched, handled or approached on foot. The petting of lion cubs leads to human imprinting and human-imprinted lions cannot be easily reintroduced into the wild. Often adult lions that are human imprinted have only one fate: facing the hunter’s bullet in the deplorable trophy hunting activity called "canned hunting".
8. Tawny lions in the Greater Timbavati region still carry the rare White Lion gene. However, the rate of occurrence is extremely rare and statistically unknown. The Global White Lion Protection Trust is working to identify the rare White Lion gene. If both parents are tawny and are carrying the white gene there is a 25% chance of a white cub. If one parent is white and the other is tawny but carries the white gene, there is a 50% chance of a cub being white. If both parents are white, 100% of the offspring will be white.
9. Two sets of White Lion cubs were born to two different tawny prides in the Greater Timbavati region in 2006. None of the cubs survived after the dominant male of both prides was trophy hunted. The survival rate of cubs to adulthood in the wild is, at best, 20%.
10. Once White Lions have been integrated into the tawny lion populations within their natural distribution range, the natural dynamics of their endemic region will be restored. However, whilst trophy hunting persists in the Greater Timbavati region, any tawny lion hunted, could be one of the last bearers of the White Lion gene.