[FACT OR FAKE #95] Is This 'Rare' Photo Of An All-Black Lion Real?
Circulating via social media, this viral image supposedly documents the existence of a melanistic (black) lion on a game refuge in Africa. But is this photo real? SAYS' Fact or Fake columnist Sadho sheds some light to see through the blackness!
By Sadho Ram — 22 Feb 2015, 04:28 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
In case you're active on Twitter, chances are you might have stumbled upon this photo showing an "incredibly rare black lion"
Just like the above photo, there are other photos that supposedly document the existence of melanistic (black) lions
Before we go further, here's a bit about melanistic lions:
Stories of melanistic lions are not new. They go back for centuries. In fact, the great explorer Marco Polo claims to have observed a black lion during his travels. Although, in the absence of any scientific documentation of a black lion ever, most people today feel Polo likely observed a melanistic leopard (black panther).
No melanistic lion has ever been documented by science. Many cats have the melanism gene, a development of the dark-coloured pigment melanin in the skin, but lions are not thought to be one of these species.
However, the fact that there's no documented proof of a black lion, in some strange manner sparks a great amount of interest among people who keeps claiming the existence of black lions.
Coming back to the photo of the "incredibly rare black lion", well, this photo is fake! This gorgeous animal doesn't really exist.
The digitally altered photo of the black lion comes via deviantArt
Not only this photo. In fact, any other photo you might have seen or happen to see on the Internet claiming to show a "black lion" is actually FAKE! An all-black or "melanistic" lion DOESN'T exist!
The original photo, from Flickr, shows a rare (but real) white lion at South Africa's Cango Wildlife Ranch
About FACT OF FAKE column:
FACT OR FAKE column is part of a continuing SAYS weekly series that debunks urban myths, legends and popular claims such as the one you read in this column.
In case you have your own question regarding the validity of any trending claim or popular sayings, email us at [email protected] with the subject line "FACT OR FAKE". Or tweet your question to @saysdotcom; or get in touch via Facebook.