average African lions. [ 54 ] In the Pendjari National Park area almost all males are maneless or have very weak manes. [ 55 ] Maneless male lions have also been reported from Senegal , from Sudan ( Dinder National Park ), and from Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, and the original male white lion from Timbavati also was maneless. The testosterone hormone has been linked to mane growth, therefore castrated lions often have minimal to no mane, as the removal of the gonads inhibits testosterone production. [ 56 ] Cave paintings of extinct European cave lions almost exclusively show animals with no manes, suggesting that either they were maneless, [ 35 ] or that the paintings depict lionesses as seen hunting in a group. White lions White lions owe their colouring to a recessive gene; they are rare forms of the subspecies Panthera leo krugeri The white lion is not a distinct subspecies, but a special morph with a genetic condition, leucism , [ 16 ] that causes paler colouration akin to that of the white tiger ; the condition is similar to melanism , which causes black panthers . They are not albinos, having normal pigmentation in the eyes and skin. White Transvaal lion ( Panthera leo krugeri ) individuals occasionally have been encountered in and around Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve in eastern South Africa, but are more commonly found in captivity , where breeders deliberately select them. The unusual cream