On Friday , July 15 , staff at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin , Texas welcome a newfangled baby Leo the Lion into the world . But this was n’t any average lad : Unlike both of its golden - brown parent , theLufkin Daily Newsreports , the animal ’s pelt was white — making it the second white lion cub to ever be born in an accredited U.S. menagerie .
“ I just could n’t believe it , but it for certain is white , ” Gordon Henley , the director of the Ellen Trout Zoo , told ABC News affiliate KLTV . “ It look like a bunch of cotton ball all swan up . ”
The lily-white lion cub ’s pale fur was triggered by a lifelike genetic variation that ’s only found in South Africa ’s Greater Timbavati / Kruger Park realm , Fox61reports . Its parent passed thewhitefurgene down as a recessionary trait , mean both of them carried it , even though neither had a pale coat .
Workers at the Ellen Trout Zoo contacted a non-profit-making called theLion Species Survival Planto see how common whitened lion nascence actually are . In 2014 , another pale cubwas gestate at the Omaha Zoo — but around six month later , its color had darkened to golden brown . Meanwhile , four white lionswere born at the Toronto Zooin September 2015 .
accord to estimates , fewer than 300 whitened lions live in enslavement worldwide . And white Leo the Lion are even more uncommon in the wild , Fox 61 reports : information provided by theGlobal White Lion Protection Trustshow that fewer than 13 whitened lions live in all of South Africa ’s Timbavati bush region .
This was the 2nd pregnancy for the cub ’s mother , an African lion advert Adia who gave parturition to her first cub , Sango , four years ago . Sango had to be hand - reared because Aida did n’t farm milk . This sentence around , both Aida and the new baby are in beneficial wellness , a poston the zoo ’s Facebook pageconfirms .
For now , zookeepers have pull up stakes the young carnivore alone with Adia so she can bond with her baby . The young carnivore ’s name has n’t been revealed yet , but zookeepers would be wise to hold off on cave in it monikers like “ Snowball ” : Experts still do n’t know yet whether the lion will stay white or if its pelage will eventually work a different shade .
[ h / tLufkin Daily News ]
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