Hybrid Lions

        People hear all the time about new hybrids of domestic felines, but people don't hear about lion hybrids as much....Actually, do lion hybrids exist? Well, the answer is YES. Being the second largest cat in the world after the Siberian tiger makes it difficult to believe that lions can mate with other smaller wild cats, and of course bigger ones! Well, this kind of mating is rare but it did happen before, not in the wild though. All of the known lion hybrid incidents took place in captivity, under the watchable eyes of scientists and researchers. Surprisingly, a lot of those lion hybrids are fertile, especially females. So, have you heared about the lion hybrids that exist or existed?




Lion + Tiger = ???

LIGER: The liger is the result from the mating between a male lion and a female tiger. The liger is incredibely larger in size than both the lion and the tiger reaching about 11 feet (3.4 mt) in length, which makes it the largest living cat on earth. Ligers are the living proof that hybrid cats can surely be fertile.

Male Liger                 Female Liger

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TIGON: The tigon is the result from the mating between a male tiger and a lioness. The tigon is obviously smaller in size than either the lion or the tiger. Tigons also proved to be fertile and able to mate with both lions and tigers.

Female Tigon                 Male Tigon

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Leopon: The leopon is the result from the mating between a male leopard and a lioness. This kind of hybrid is not as common as ligers and tigons mainly due to the big size difference between the lion and the leopard. Usually, lions and leopards compete for prey in the wild and the lion can easily kill the leopard. The most famous recorded incident of a leopon took place in a Japanese zoo in the 1960s.

Leopon

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         As strange as it sounds, but these types of lion hybrids occured for real and most of those hybrid incidents are recorded by zoologists. Actually, the hybrids themselves have been mated with each other. WHAT , wait a second now, is this possible?!! Well, it happened, so I guess it is possible..

        * Tigons and ligers have been mated together resulting in what is called ti-ligers, and tigers and tigons have been mated together resulting in what is called ti-tigons. Both ti-tigons and ti-ligers are more of a tiger than a lion.
         * Lions and ligers have been mated together resulting in what is called li-ligers, and lions and tigons have been mated together resulting in what is called li-tigons. Both li-ligers and li-tigons are more of a lion than a tiger.


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