IT'S  SNOWING  IN  THE  WILD!

There’s nothing more fascinating than an unusual color or pattern that crops up in nature where least expected, and is not only unusual but as beautiful and magical even perhaps as the mythical unicorn. Although sometimes shrouded in mystery and legend--we’re pleasantly rewarded and discover that it’s not just a dream at all, but a special gift presented by nature on this wonderful planet of ours.

According to my research, white pelage exists in several of the big cats, including lions. White lions were first seen in the U.S. in 1993 at the Philadelphia zoo. Ms. Pat Killmaier, Aluren cattery, has visited the white lions and her impression is that “they looked like sepia and mink coloring with aqua eyes in the lighter one. They looked just like our Bengals, but their parents were both browns. The zoo knew the parents were carriers of the white genes. Two of the cubs were ‘snows’ and one was regular lion color.”

Sightings of white lions were rumored to exist as early as 1938 in South Africa, but a more recent report speaks of two cubs seen in 1975 at the Timbatavi Game Reserve near Kruger National park. Controversy ensued as to whether white cubs could survive in the wild since they didn’t have the benefit of natural camouflage, and eventually they were captured and taken to a zoo where one of them was successfully bred. Chris McBride, a researcher, has authored books on this subject, which are now out of print.

The entertainment team of Siegfried and Roy had several white lions by 1996. Continued controversy exists not only of the white lions, but of the white tigers and other unusual occurrences including the argument of genetic dilution, and the theory that white is a color that doesn’t camouflage itself well in the natural habitat of the lions, therefore leaving those animals open to various natural threats.

I also found references to a few other white cats, in Paraguay, partial and full albino jaguars; a very early and apparently unverifiable report of a white cheetah with solid gray spots; besides sightings reported in India, white leopards were born at a Wildlife Weigh station, located in Los Angeles Forest and described as white with normal eyes with spots coming in as they matured; white Servals are said to have occurred at Wildlife on Easy street.

The most intriguing of the big cats displaying the magnificent ermine coat is the exquisitely beautiful but elusive snow leopard, still surrounded by much mystery and myth because of its unfriendly and austere habitats as high as 18,000 feet. The snow leopard was first photographed in the wild by George Schaller in 1970--not so very long ago considering how long this beautiful creature must have been in existence, but facing high risk of extinction because of gradual erosion of natural habitat by humans, and ironically because of its beautiful and desirable pelage.

The white tigers are probably the most famous of the white cats because of their exposure to the public via TV and their well known home in Las Vegas, owned by Siegfried and Roy. These white cats are not considered albinos by scientists, who call them “recessive mutants.” Responsibility for the white coloration is claimed due to a double recessive allele.

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