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Rare white lion gives birth to four cubs at Toronto Zoo

All four cubs appear to be healthy (and noisy) and are feeding well, CTV News Toronto reports. The first 30 days will be critical for the housecat-sized babies, and they will need to be monitored closely by staff, the zoo said.

Makali began showing signs that she was pregnant on Sept. 15, the zoo said in a press release, according to TheStar.com. This prompted staff to begin monitoring her round-the-clock.

The youngsters weigh about 1.3 kilograms each and will open their eyes after two weeks.

Mom and babies are currently housed in the maternity area of the zoo’s lion habitat, out of the public’s eyes. This is the first litter for Makali and the cubs’ dad, Fintan. Mom and dad are both four years old.

African lions range from south of the Sahara desert down to South Africa in a variety of habitats — from sea level to mountainous terrain.

White lions, however, are only found in South Africa’s Timbavati region. Timbavati, in the ancient African Tsonga language means “the place where the star lions came down,” The Washington Post reports.

The fur of this magnificent cat is pale blond, but white lions are not albino. Animals that are albino lack pigment in their skin, giving them pure white hair and pink eyes. White lions can vary from light to dark blond, and their eyes may be blue, green, or gold, depending upon the light. Their ears and noses are dark-tipped.

It’s not only white lions who can give birth to white cubs, the considerably more common tawny lions can do this as well. But to do so, the mother and father must carry the rare white gene, the Post reports.

Legends say that the “star lions” came into existence when the sun turned into a lion, and African elders say white lions have lived in this area for centuries.

Now, only 11 of these beautiful big cats remain in the wild, according to the Global White Lion Protection Trust, the Post reports.

White lions have never been common, but when Westerners “discovered” the lions in the 1970s, the big cats were captured for zoos, circuses, and other commercial operations and they have been nearly hunted to extinction. In South Africa, captive white lions are bred for “canned hunting camps” where foreigners, including many Americans, hunt and kill captive lions in fenced-in enclosures.

Wild lions could very well become extinct in our lifetime, notes Linda Tucker, the Trust’s founder.

“All lions in South Africa are in crisis,” she told the Post.

In an interview with Earth Island Journal, Tucker discussed the cruel nature of canned hunts, noting that a white lion trophy can fetch up to $165,000. It’s truly horrendous, she noted.

“Some people would put the mortgage down on their house with that money; other people would send their children to school for an education, and some people would shoot a white lion trophy for that figure.”

But that isn’t the only problem. Lions are also under threat from poaching, and once again, China is a major player, having become very aggressive in seeking not just rhino horn, but also lion bones for medicinal practices.

“China is a huge threat to the survival of all endangered species in Africa,” she said.

One of the main goals of the Trust is to secure more land, or perhaps change the law that allows trophy hunting of the big five game animals in the region–including elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard — and lions. Releasing the white lion prides back into the system means they can be hunted, Tucker noted.

“We’ve had to secure vast tracts of land in the heart of the lion’s endemic habitat in order to create a protected area for the white lions to live naturally in their environment. We would like to gain much more of a protected area.”

Wild white lions are also shot or poisoned by farmers who view them as a threat to their livestock, The Huffington Post notes.

Makali and her precious cargo will remain out of the public eye and kept in the maternity ward for about six to eight weeks, the zoo revealed on Facebook.

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