Kiara and Vitani's genes

[ScarLoyal]

You know, i've noticed that in comparison with her parents, Kiara looks very small. Sure she may have her father's gold fur (kinda) and red eyes. But I can't really see any Nala or even Sarafina in her build. But what I also don't understand is why is her color palette resembling more of a macaroni than her mother's dark beige or father's orange-gold. As well as her grandmother's dark fur. However i've noticed that apparently she looks almost like her grandmother.

Now about Vitani. Why does she gain ear-rims when she's older and where did her 'pink nose' and 'hair tuft' come from? The only lioness that has one is Tama. Could she be Vitani's mother? But as a cub Vitani has more sharper 'fur cheeks', but again when she's older she has more softer 'fur cheeks'. She just looks like a perfect blend of Scar and Nala. But unless Zira or Scar's parents have the same genes then Vitani could be Zira's.
Tama has the same 'orange pinkish tawny' fur as Vitani as a cub, but she doesn't have those 'bluish, purplish' eyes. What do you think?

[Carl]

Well, first off, shouldn't this be in the SP section of the board, as neither Kiara nor Vitani had anything to do with the first film?

Second, to your questions...

Genetics aren't that simple. You can't base how a child will look solely on how her parents look. We also can't use Tama as a reference here because she is not full canon, and the makers of SP did not know about Kopa, so they certainly didn't know about Tama. Vitani refers to Zira as "mother," as do Kovu and Nuka. Vitani has the same body type as Zira and has similar coloration. We don't know anything about Zira's ancestry, so it's not like we can rule her our as a mother based on the eye colours and the head tuft. In the wild, some lionesses do have manes, and not usually because their mother had one. This means it's not weird for Vitani to have such a small head tuft, whether Zira does or not. And since we don't know a thing about Vitani's father (who could have had the same eye color) or about Zira's parents and ancestry, we have no reason to assume that she is not Zira's cub. Also the ear rims appearing with age aren't all that far fetched in TLK genealogy, considering that Simba had ear rims as a cub and lost them as an adult; who's to say it can't work the other way as well?

As for Kiara, well, as you pointed out yourself, her colors and such are at least similar to her family members'. If you still think she's a bit small, keep in mind that she is not an adult at the end of the film. She is an adolescent, a young adult, who still has some growing to do.