Darling Downs Zoo white lions at Toowoomba

ZYBen said:
We do plan to breed from these animals, one day..
Probably White to Tawny, but these guys are unrelated.
Yes, we arent saying they are a rare endangered subspecies of the Lion, they are their to raise the profile and awareness of problems facing tawny lions in the wild.
There is no point managing Lions at a Sub Species level in Australia, these will be bred with our Zoo/Circus breed lions.
Chlidonias these 2 bring our Lion holdings to 5.5 with 4.4 Tawny's and these whites :)
The whites are held seperatley at this time, but there are plans to house them with Tawies for a comparison.
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Thanks for clearing that up, I have no problem with that and doubted Steve would of brought them in to just breed white lions!
 
Congratulations to Steve & Steph and the "DDZ team" on obtaining the two white lion cubs, I feel every zoo large or small needs drawcards to help bring people though the gates and this will help. I know they will get the best care there, the future looks good for the zoo. Oh and well done Jay on getting another scoop, lol.
 
As for breeding subspecies, I think most taxonomists would now agree that all lions in subhara Africa are one race. I can't point to any specific links just now, but that is my hunch.

As for breeding white lions (and white tigers for that matter), the ideal solution would be to breed whites with unrelated normal colored cats to maintain a healthy gene pool. But of course everyone wants all white cubs, not just those that would randomly appear in my scheme, which is how we got into trouble with white tiger genetics and soon will be in the same boat with white lions.

It is odd, however, that white lions never really took off in popularity here in the U.S. like white tigers did. Especially since people in Australia and New Zealand seem to think they are all the rage.
 
Arizona Docent said:
It is odd, however, that white lions never really took off in popularity here in the U.S. like white tigers did. Especially since people in Australia and New Zealand seem to think they are all the rage.
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I'm not sure the last sentence is really very accurate. In NZ only the widely-derided Zion has white lions, and in Australia they are only in four (?) zoos, and two of those zoos only got them within the last month or so (ZooDoo and Darling Downs). Not exactly "all the rage"
 
ZYBen said:
yes you are.
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Only Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa have different bloodlines in this country, and if they where inported from a Zoo Supplier from Africa you only can be sure that they are not related after carry a DNA research, otherwise you never will know that what they are saying is correct.

They are fascinating animals no doubt!

Good look with them.
 
Ben - do you know the pedigrees of these animals? Are they pure P.l.krugeri ?

:p

Hix
 
Chlidonias said:
seriously though, I'm a bit surprised by the lack of reaction to this news from certain Australian members with strong views on white lions! I expect Steve was steeling himself for a hefty debate.
I guess that everybody had already had their say when the cubs got to Zoodoo!

I have also had private discussions with some ZooChatters and we have all pretty well covered our respective positions on the subject.
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taun said:
Sorry but can I ask the following questions?

Do you plan to breed from them? (I assume not)

Yes, we will breed from these cubs, but sparingly. We have the option of breeding them together or to our tawnys. Breeding will have to be done extremely carefully to keep track of the white genes. I don't expect a great deal of demand from other zoos for "white" lions [although we have had some enquiries] but we will need to perpetuate the strain here in years to come.

Do you plan to educate the public properly about "White"lions? (Which I assume you will)

We imported these for a couple of reasons;
* To give our zoo a point of difference in a very competitive market.
* To reclaim attention in Queensland from tigers!
* To help us to draw attention to the plight of wild lions.
* Because we like them!

Do you plan to bring more of the same sub-species in then breed?

We have no immediate plans to import any more. It maybe that the previous two holders of white lions in this country will now see the advantage of managing all the white lions in this country collaboratively.
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I hope that this answers your questions.
 
Steve Robinson said:
Chlidonias said:
seriously though, I'm a bit surprised by the lack of reaction to this news from certain Australian members with strong views on white lions! I expect Steve was steeling himself for a hefty debate.
I guess that everybody had already had their say when the cubs got to Zoodoo!
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I guess I come under that category.

I'd say congratulations to Steve on his successful import, not an easy thing to accomplish. And I understand the reasons he has gone down that route, to establish a point of difference for Darling Downs Zoo in a market which has several "big players", even if I wish he could have found another route.

I do hope he doesn't breed these animals, for all the reasons we have discussed before. DDZ shouldl get 15 to 20 years exhibit life from these animals. By then DDZ should be well established and prosperous, and not feel the need for this type of exhibit.
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ZYBen said:
The whites are held seperatley at this time, but there are plans to house them with Tawies for a comparison.
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Not quite. They will be housed alongside a tawny pride for comparison once our total lion holdings are rationalised.
 
eduardo_Brazil said:
Only Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa have different bloodlines in this country, and if they where inported from a Zoo Supplier from Africa you only can be sure that they are not related after carry a DNA research, otherwise you never will know that what they are saying is correct.

They are fascinating animals no doubt!

Good look with them.
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Thank you.

We started researching this import over two years ago.

One of the things that we were concerned about was getting the best quality animals. There are some dodgy lion breeders in Africa and so we spent a long while identifying a supplier who could provide us with genuinely unrelated animals.
 
Steve,

I see from your website that you are now open every day except Tuesdays (and on Tuesdays during school holidays). Is this a permanent shift, or just an indication that the white lions are pulling people in?
 
MRJ said:
Steve Robinson said:
Chlidonias said:
seriously though, I'm a bit surprised by the lack of reaction to this news from certain Australian members with strong views on white lions! I expect Steve was steeling himself for a hefty debate.




I'd say congratulations to Steve on his successful import, not an easy thing to accomplish. And I understand the reasons he has gone down that route, to establish a point of difference for Darling Downs Zoo in a market which has several "big players", even if I wish he could have found another route.
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It was not an easy route, that is true. But now that we have successfully negotiated it, future imports will be much easier.

Several people have wished that we had imported some other species to give us our "point of difference". Nobody has suggested what species we could have acquired.

Can anyone suggest an available species that a non-ZAA zoo situated in Queensland would be able to import? We certainly racked our brains and couldn't come up with anything better than the white lions.

The cubs, by the way, are doing very well.

They have certainly have had the desired effect on our business resulting in the zoo now opening to the public on 6 days a week. Website visits have jumped from an average of 80-90 hits per day in non-holiday time to over 2500 hits last week.
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CGSwans said:
Steve,

I see from your website that you are now open every day except Tuesdays (and on Tuesdays during school holidays). Is this a permanent shift, or just an indication that the white lions are pulling people in?
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This is a permanent shift - see above post.
 
I think a few people are being unrealistic in their expectations - Australia is hardly the last hope for the species. Lions are here primarily as show animals, and whites are just beautiful!
 
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