Can I have a cuddle, please Dad? Rare white lion cubs show affection for their parents at German zoo
A family of incredibly rare big cats which are almost extinct in the wild have been revealed for the first time.
Pictured at the Magdeburg Zoo in Germany, incredible photographs show eight week old white lion cubs playing together and cuddling up to their mother Kiara and father, Madiba.
The cubs – three males and one female – were born in their enclosure on Christmas Day and now weigh between eight and 11 kilograms each.
Born with a recessive gene which causes their light colouring, the lions are found in just one place on Earth – the Greater Timbavati region in South Africa, where just a handful remain because of poachers.
Kiara and Madiba bore two sets of offspring last year, with two other cubs born in April.
The leucism pigment gene gives the magnificent big cats blue or green-grey eyes instead of brown, and a pelt that remains white all their lives.
According to traditional African oral history, white lions have been seen in the Timbavati area for centuries but were only ‘discovered’ again in 1977 when they became the focus of naturalist Chris McBride’s ‘The White Lions of the Timbavati’.
The seven-week-old lion cubs – one female and three male – were born on Christmas day at the Magdeburg Zoo in Gemrnay, and now weigh between eight and 11 kilograms each
One of the seven-week-old cubs affectionately plays with its mother Kiara. The extremely rare big cats are nearly extinct in their native South Africa because of the poaching trade
One cub nestles itself into its father Madiba’s huge mane, as he looks out over their enclosure at the German zoo
