For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Friday, May 1, 2009

White Lions

White lions are not albinos. The first one was born in the Timbivati Game reserve in the 1980's and was herelded as an omen of great changes coming. This is a gene found in some of them and their siblings can be normal color. The other differences between the two is that the white lion has greenish eyes and does not have the black tipped tail.
These lions are roaming around in a VERY large enclosure which you drive through with your car so I am right next to them. Some of these were taken with the 200mm lens but some were too close so I took them with my point and shoot camera. There are 5 of these large camps and each one has a mixture of males and females.
The camps have high 20 foot fences around them with a space and then another fence so that the they cannot get through it and at each other. When one of the females from a camp is on heat the lions from the other camp walk up and down next to the fence and I can see they will do almost anything to be able to get through it. The males are very possessive of their females and territory.

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