Thank you for rectifying my misguided attempt at explaining the Timbavati lions’ genetic heritage.

Your post, vis a vis mine, nicely illustrates the differences between someone who knows what he’s talking about and someone who THINKS he knows…

Thank you both for pointing out the “Cryptid Summer” and “Fake Monster” links – I’ve since checked ‘em out – cool stuff!

Now, more apropos to the matter at hand, I would add that it appears the Cheetah, more so than the other big cats, underwent a severe population bottleneck at the end of the last Ice Age, leading to inbreeding and consequently, very limited genetic diversity. As such, it is perhaps not so surprising that the Cheetah’s limited gene pool would pair-up the necessary recessive genes to produce odd color morphs such as the so-called “white” and “King Cheetah” phases.

Moreover, after reviewing the io9 website photos, I agree with Sordes that the specimen in question is not so much “white” as “unspotted.” Also, as Remobec indicated, the animal is definitely not an albino, having normal-colored eyes and nose. To that, I would add the dark “tear drop” markings, running down from the corner of the eyes to the mouth, and found on all regularly-colored cheetahs. Said markings are thought to provide the same benefits of Eye-Black, daubed-on beneath athlete’s eyes: cutting down on glare and improving contrast under brightly-lit conditions.

As I recall, the White Lions of Timbavati, which were not albinos, but leucistic (having reduced pigmentation in [only]their fur) were “white” at birth but became a bit tawnier as they aged. I suspect our cheetah-in-question followed a similar path.

It is surely not white or somehow hyomelanistic, it is only lacking the normal spots (except some very small ones), so it seems brighter than normal cheetahs, but actually its basic colour is not different from normal cheetahs. It is also not bulkier than normal cheetahs at all, if you compare it with other specimens.

The hybrid idea is highly unlikely. Not only for reasons of different behavior, but also because both species are not very closely related. Tigers, jaguars, lions and leopards are all comparably closely related, but cheetahs belong to another evolutionary line. I don’t say it would be completely impossible, as there were some few hybrids in captivity between leopards and pumas.

But on the other hand the cheetah in question is only a cheetah without spots, there is nothing indicating any anomalies which would imply a hybrid origin.