Bundles of White Mischief

By BRENDAN MONTAGUE and CHARLOTTE GILL, Daily Mail

Last updated at 11:55 10 June 2006

Their 肉親，親類d were 追跡（する）d to 絶滅 for their pale fur. White lions, African legend has it, are the mythical king of beasts born just once every 100 as a symbol of the 潔白 of the animal kingdom.

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But astonishingly, an English amateur photographer has now pictured the first white lion cubs born into the wild for years.

At just three weeks old, the pair play and 捨てる together in the South African bush as their golden-coloured mother looks on.

Neither of their parents are white, but the animals carried the recessive 遺伝子 known as 'leucism' which produces white fur ― it 生き残るs in the normal lion 全住民にもかかわらず the white lion 産む／飼育する having been wiped out.

Contrary to ありふれた belief, the young cubs are not albino. They have the same 注目する，もくろむs as other lions, but the 遺伝子 means they lose the normal pigmentation in their fur and 肌.

Their rarity also puts them in more danger. White cubs are いつかs killed by other members of a pride because of their 半端物 colour. They are an easier 的 for hyenas, and their lightness also means the animals are more 極度の慎重さを要する to sunlight and 燃やす easily.

The cubs were born in the 私的な Umbabat 聖域 within the Timbavati reserve, which 国境s Kruger 国家の Park. Timbavati is the only place on Earth where white lions have been born in the wild.

Rumours about white lions first 循環させるd in the Twenties, though African folklore dates sightings to at least 400 years 支援する.

To African tribes, the animals are said to be messengers of the gods ― their pure fur 代表するing the good to be 設立する in all creatures.

The first 公式の／役人 sighting by a European was in 1975, when 研究員 Chris McBride spotted a white lion within the reserve. In 最近の years, conservationists have 解放（する）d white lions 支援する into Timbavati in an 試みる／企てる to bring the creature 支援する from 絶滅.

They had been 追跡（する）d to 絶滅 by poachers. There are now only dozens left, most living in 捕らわれた in zoos and collections.

But incredibly, these two cubs, 指名するd Castor and Pollux by the photographer who discovered them, have been born 自然に to wild lions.

Jim Moir, a retired 航空機による操縦する from Filkins in Gloucestershire, 設立する them while on safari in the secluded 地域.

Last night, the 62-year-old father of two said: "These are the only white lions alive today which have born into the wild.

"This is a bit like seeing Martians in the centre of London, and has 原因（となる）d a sensation in South Africa.

"I didn't know they were there. I was looking for a 明確な／細部 group of lions that roams across the 自然保護 area. I heard the lions calling at 5am and went to look for them an hour later.

"I 設立する the four 女性（の） lions, but the mother was 存在特に積極的なに向かって me, and I couldn't understand why because I was not 原因（となる）ing a 脅し. But she relaxed and later produced the two cubs into the （疑いを）晴らす.

"When I saw them I nearly fell off the ledge I was sitting on. I called the professional 特別奇襲隊員, but I was almost too embarrassed to say I had seen while lion cubs, because it's such a rare occurrence."