White Lion Cubs on display at Toronto Zoo

[Catherine]

Born last September, the four while lion cubs are now on display to the public.  They are so cute and the birth of four of them is very good for a species that has such limited numbers.

http://www.citynews.ca/2015/12/20/toront...lion-cubs/


I know what I want to do with my extra time off over Christmas.

[Ruth]

They look so sweet! I hope they have a happy life.

[Tobi]

They are beautiful. So Catherine....do you hope to go to see them over Christmas?

[Catherine]

I am hoping to go and see them next Monday. The weather is good. Now I just have to hope I have time.  If not then the following Monday I could do it. The zoo is on the far side of town from me, way out on the edge, but there are acres of woods and it is a real trip to the country for me, without actually leaving the city.

[platy]

I'm not following.
White lions are no different to normal lions. They're not a different species, it's a recessive gene like any other recessive gene, blue eyes or not blue eyes, red hair or not red hair, dimples or no dimples. I don't get why it's seen as "so rare they need to be conserved and bred". It's a recessive gene; of course there aren't going to be as many white lions as there are normal dominant gene coloured lions, that's how it's supposed to be. And if places are breeding specifically for recessive genes, what does that say about their ethics.

[Catherine]

It is a recessive gene(actually there is probably more than one gene involved) and the white lions only occur in a small part of Africa. If we do not work to preserve them, recessive genes can be lost. We don't want to lose any of the lions in the world, but the rare mutations need a little work.


I also hope they do not let the white deer be lost or the Spirit Bears. Sometimes recessive genes need a little more help.

They are so pretty and so different. It takes planning to keep the recessive gene going without breeding close relatives together. That takes planning.

[platy]

It is not necessary to specifically breed for a recessive gene. The recessive gene won't be lost since there are still carriers in the wild population, naturally you just don't see as many of that particular phenotype. It's just leucism, there's not meant to be heaps of them and they're not meant to be the norm!
People are meddling in things that ought not be meddled.

[Catherine]

I think the lion population in a particular area is predominately white. The soil and rocks are lighter so they blend better and survive better.

I think the rarer colours have a tendency to be hunted more so we do need to work to balance things.  Spirit Bears exist on one small set of islands off the British Columbia coast. If we didn't protect them hunters would have killed them all long ago. It is interfering, but sometimes I am glad we do it.