The pair of extremely rare white lion cubs are being hand-reared at a Mexican zoo.

The two white lions, one of the world's most endangered species, were born at Loro animal park. They were taken from their mother, Numbi, and put in an indoor den. Staff are working around the clock to feed the young felines.

One of their vets, Andrea Sumohano Rivera, said: "One of the cubs is very restless all the time. She wants to climb, wants to be on top, biting, licking.

"She is very active and eats a lot. The other is more sleepy and calm and gets angry when her sister disturbs her."

The last white lion, native to the Timbavati region of South Africa, was seen in the wild in 1994, after which they were technically extinct outside captivity, decimated by poaching and loss of habitat.