Today my fav animals - cat family. I went to the Animal Sanctuary and took this photo's of the rare white lion and white tiger. Not many left of them in the world. White Lions are not albinos, but a genetic rarity unique to one endemic region on the globe: the Timbavati region. So the sanctuary are keeping them in a breeding program to make them live on for our children and their children. The Genetic Marker that makes White Lions unique has not yet been identified by science. The White Lions are currently classified under the general species classification Panthera leo, although this is likely to change after the genetic research undertaken by the Global White Lion Protection Trust reveals important reasons for sub- specification of this rare phenotype. The last white lion was seen in the wild in 1994, after which time they were technically extinct in the wild. Currently, there is no law nationally or internationally that protects the White Lions from being wiped off the face of the earth. White Tigers are extremely beautiful animals, they serve no conservation purpose, with the exception of increasing attendance to zoos. Thus increasing public awareness and education of the plight of all endangered animals. These tigers are called Siberian, South China, Indochinese, Bengal, and Sumatran. Their Latin name is Panthera tigris. Tigers are an endangered species; only about 5,000 to 7,400 tigers are left in the wild. Three tiger subspecies, the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers have become extinct in the past 70 years. http://whitelions.org/new/ http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/siberian-white-tiger.cfm And then I added pics of the normal African Lion and our very own Cheetah cub, from my area here in the Free State. Hope you learned something new. I did...Hugs