10 facts about white lions

1. White lions are not albinos, but a genetic rarity unique to one endemic region on the globe: the Timbavati region.
2. The genetic marker that makes white lions unique has not yet been identified by science.
3. They 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-speciation of this rare phenotype.
4. The earliest recorded sighting of white lions in the Timbavati region was in 1938. However, the oral records of African elders indicates that these unique animals survived in this region for many centuries.
5. The unique white lion gene is carried by certain of the tawny coloured lions in the region, and white cubs occured in numerous prides in the region.
6. Since their discovery by the West, white lions and those lions carrying the unique gene have been hunted, and forcibly removed from their natural endemic habitat.
7. The last white lion was seen in the wild in 1994, after which time they were technically extinct in the wild.
8. The idea that white lions are genetically inferior to ordinary tawny lions has not yet been scientifically tested.
9. The idea that they cannot survive in the wild due to perceived lack of camouflage has not been scientifically tested.
10. Currently, there is no law nationally or internationally that protects the white lions from being wiped off the face of the earth.
    
    

Reference: Global White Lion Protection Trust

Basic Ecology

Ecology, what does it mean?

It is the study of interrelationships and interactions between the living (biotic) organisms and their non-living (abiotic) environment and the study of the processes that take place during such interactions.

An Ecosystem: 

It is a system of living organisms that interact with each other and their surrounding environment.

Levels of organisation in Ecology:

• Individual (single organism of a particular species)
• Population (interbreeding group of organisms of the same species)
• Community (all populations found within a given area)
• Ecosystem (living and non-living components)
• Biome (group of communities with own climate, vegetation and animal life, covering a large area)
• Biosphere (system including all life on earth and the physical environment)

What is a Food chain?

It is the description of the way energy flows through the ecosystem. Energy is transferred from plants through a series of organims by eating and being eaten.

What is a Food web?

It is the number of food chains liked and interwoven into a complex food web due to some species being eaten by a number of different predators and not only one line of energy flow.

A food chain usually consists of Producers, Consumers, Decomposers.

Producers: plants that are able to synthesise or manufacture their own food through the process of phosynthesis (autotrophs). The energy from the sunlight is converted into a form of chemical energy that can be used.

Consumers: organisms that are not able to produce or manufacture their own food and thus relay on other organisms for their nutritional requirements.

1. Primary consumers: animals that feed on plants (kudu)
2. Secondary consumers: animals that feed on other animals (lion)
3. Tertiary consumers: animals that feed on other meat-eating animals (hyena)

Decomposers: Organisms that are able to break down existing organic material (dead wood, dead animal tissues...) (Heterotrophs) ex: bacteria, sacrophytic fungi, insectes: termites, beetles...

Here is the Nutrient Cycle (Mineral recycling):

And here is a Trophic Pyramid: