Rare White Lion Cubs Revealed In France

Aug 15, 2019 by apost team

A conservation charity in northwestern France has unveiled two rare white lion cubs. Caresse de Tigre, an animal rescue organization, had rescued Simba and Nala’s parents from their owner who planned to sell them to a circus.

The cubs were born around the end of July 2019 according to the BBC. Caresse de Tigre released photos of the cubs earlier this week. The organization maintains a sanctuary along the banks of the River Seine near Rouen where they keep animals rescued from circuses and zoos.

The cubs were, of course, named after the characters from “Lion King,” which has recently been remade.

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Caresse de Tigre has already made arrangements to send Nala to a park in England and Simba to a shelter in France when the cubs are older.

A white lion’s color is due to a recessive trait caused by a mutation of the same gene that can cause albinism. The effects, however, are less severe. While an albino lion would have no pigment at all, a white lion is leucistic, which means they lack dark pigment.

They can thus be pale yellow as well as white. The gene that causes a white lion’s coloring is different from that of white tigers. According to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, captive white lions can live for 18 years. While only a handful of white lions remain in the wild, they are native to South Africa.

Caresse de Tiger was established in 2004 by the Klimonds, a couple who had been circus performers.

Have you heard of white lions? Tell us what you think of the new arrivals in France in the comments below.