Moya is not albino. He is something much rarer.
British photographer Simon Needham found him at the Glen Garriff Conservation sanctuary in South Africa, when the lion was already 6 years old and had a mane that looked as though it had been carved from ivory. Needham was so struck by the coat that he decided to photograph him up close, seeking to show the world something that almost no one gets to see in the wild: leucism, a recessive genetic mutation that lightens the skin and fur without completely erasing pigmentation, very different from the albinism with which it is often confused.
For a cub to be born this way, both parents must carry that hidden gene. That is why white lions exist naturally only in a small area near Kruger National Park, and today fewer than 10 remain living free across the entire savanna. Suzanne Scott, the sanctuary’s director, helped Needham get close to Moya to capture those photos that today remind us how much there is still to protect.