2008-12-11 白狮子回归自然（在线收听）

White lions are roaming the African plains once again. Over the past decades, few sightings were reported of these rare big cats in their natural environments. And South African white lions could only be seen in breeding programs and circuses. Now the White Lion Project, the first of its kind in the world, has successfully bred and released white lions into the wild. In fact, the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve is home to the only free roaming white lions in the world.

Today is a big day for these white lion cubs. They have been bonded with these, these adult females, and we are just busy releasing them here, so we are opening the gates now.

The lion’s signature whiteness is not due to albinism, but due to a recessive gene. It is a rare color mutation, found in the Kruger sub-species of the tawny African lion. According to the Sanbona Reserve, the cubs are born almost pure white, but darken to a rich cream color over the course of their first two years. The pride is being monitored very closely by the wildlife team. And although the lions often go their own way, they reunite on a regular basis. Experts worry about the lions fending for themselves, but early signs show the project is a success.

And we just have to monitor them 24 hours, for as long as it takes to know exactly that they move together, that they all feed properly, and which animals are being involved in kills, and all those kinds of things. We need to know that, to know if these things are gonna be successful or not.

So far, the big cats seem to be adapting well to the environment in which their ancestors once roamed freely.