I’ve seen the idea of a snow leopard x lion hybrid pop up in chat multiple times now and, while that idea is very unlikely to actually be implemented into the game, I thought about some more realistic alternatives.
Snow leopards have a very thick fur coat because of the cold climate they live in so…
why not add a “Winter Coat” fur mutation?
A fur mut that could be similar to Dorsal Fur or OG Fur and would perfectly fit into the December event.
Now you might ask, why would a lion ever grow a winter coat in the savannah? Well that’s because they don’t BUT it doesn’t mean they can’t!
In the past modern lions lived in areas cold enough to snow, so the genes for winter coats are still present. They will naturally grow thicker fur to handle colder climate, which we have during the December event!
Especially in zoos lions have been observed to grow a fur coat against the cold during winter, here are some examples.






Both males and females can grow winter coats, altho males tend to just grow a thicker mane.
Instead of just long grown this fur coat is very dense and thick, similar to the winter coat of mountain lions. It’s very visible around their chest/belly, face and leg region.

Here is a try on how that could look
Ignore for now, I'm working on redrawing my idea!


Wouldn't mind seeing other peoples interpretation on how this mutation could look, someone else can probably do a better job at it than me.

My idea for the mutation:
- Names for the mutation could either be "Winter Coat", "Winter Fur" or "Winter Pelt" (Personally I like Winter Pelt)
- This mutation would be a rare, random mutation that can only be breed during December, but can pass outside of December
- It can appear on both genders
- It is visible from birth
- It has a small chance to pass naturally from either parents

Now the savannah is no place for a thick coated lion, so I’d imagine there could be some kind of penalty (outside of December). Winter coat kings could have to deal with the thirst meter (from the august event) every dry season when it's especially hot? Or females would have a disadvantage on their hunting successes?

What do you think? Let me know!