Featured Image Credit: Guangzhou Zoo/Weibo
Topics: Animals, China, World News
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Animals, China, World News
Chinese zookeepers have denied giving a male lion 'straight bangs' after some rather funny looking photos of the hair do made the rounds online.
Of course, lions, who are often dubbed the King of the Jungle, owe a lot of their animal kingdom prowess to their proud chests, quick speeds distinctive sleek-looking manes.
However, one lion looked a little less than regal in a recent photo snapped at the Guangzhou Zoo in China, sporting some very peculiar bangs, which zookeepers have denied having any part in.
In place of a long and wild mane, a particular white lion was seen sporting somewhat of a bowl-cut - with a bizarrely straight fringe.
Last Sunday (29 March), a user on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo uploaded a post about the lion in question - who is called Hang Hang - with photos showing the unexpected straight bangs.
Following the post, many people debated over whether the keepers at the Guangzhou Zoo had any part in Hang Hang's surprising-looking mane.
Responding to the assertions, however, the zookeepers have since suggested that the less-than-usual mane is down to high humidity levels rather than a dodgy trim.
Posting from the official Weibo account for the Guangzhou Zoo, staff re-shared the original post that sparked the whole debate.
Causing the once bouncy mane to hang downwards, keepers have maintained that hot temperatures are the cause for alleged 'bangs'. They also insisted that they would not interfere with the white lion's natural locks - pointing to the thick and muggy air as a cause for this floppy hairdo.
Hang Hang and his bizarre mane has quickly become a whole new zoo attraction in itself. Going viral on the Weibo platform, the post and subsequent re-sharing via the Guangzhou Zoo account garnered heaps of media attention.
Hang Hang's species - the white lions - are in fact a super rare subspecies of lion. While paler in colour to its counterparts, white lions are not actually albino.
Caused by a recessive trait, known as leucism, the white fur is said to have originated from a less-severe mutation in the same gene responsible for albinism.
Varying from blonde all the way to white, Hang Hang and his subspecies were dubbed technically extinct in the wild between the period1992 and 2004 - according to the Global White Lion Protection Trust.
But, there is an upside for Hang Hang and the rest of his rare species.
In 2004, the Global White Lion Protection Trust reintroduced the lions back into their wild natural habitat.
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