The liliger is the hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a female

liger The liger is a hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a female tiger (''Panthera tigris''). The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the similar hybrid called the tigon, and ...

(''

Panthera leo The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

''♂ × ''

Panthera tigris The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

''♀). In accordance with Haldane's rule, male

tigon A tigon (), tiglon () (portmanteau of ''tiger'' and ''lion''), or tion () is the hybrid offspring of a male tiger (''Panthera tigris'') and a female lion (''Panthera leo'').

s and

s are sterile, but female ligers and tigons can produce cubs. The first such hybrid was born in 1943, at the

Hellabrunn Zoo Hellabrunn Zoo (or Tierpark Hellabrunn in German) is a 40 hectare (99 acre) zoological garden in the Bavarian capital of Munich. The zoo is situated on the right bank of the river Isar, in the southern part of Munich near the quarter of Thalkirc ...

Description

Male liligers are slightly larger than the females, and also sport a mane, a characteristic they share with male lions. While ligers often inherit the sandy coloring and stripes of its parentage, liligers often develop rosettes similar to a leopard.

History

According to ''Wild Cats of the World'' (1975) by C. A. W. Guggisberg, ligers and

tigon A tigon (), tiglon () (portmanteau of ''tiger'' and ''lion''), or tion () is the hybrid offspring of a male tiger (''Panthera tigris'') and a female lion (''Panthera leo'').

s were long thought to be sterile, but in 1943, a 15-year-old hybrid between a lion and an 'Island' tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the Munich Hellabrunn Zoo. The female cub, though of delicate health, was raised to adulthood. In September 2012, the Russian

Novosibirsk Zoo The Novosibirsk Zoo named after Rostislav Alexandrovich Shilo (russian: Новосибирский зоопарк имени Ростислава Александровича Шило) is a scientific institution as well as a popular tourist attra ...

announced the birth of a liliger. The cub was named Kiara, and was born to an 8-year-old female liger, Zita and a male African lion, Sam. On May 16, 2013, the same couple produced three more female liligers: Luna, Sandra, and Eva. A liliger was born in the United States from a lion named Simba and a ligress named Akaria at 6:18 AM on November 29, 2013, at The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Foundation in Oklahoma. At approximately 3:00 AM on November 30, 2013, the ligress gave birth to two more cubs. Craig Packer, director of the Lion Research Center at the University of Minnesota has said "In terms of conservation, it's so far away from anything, it's kind of pointless to even say it's irrelevant". The

Association of Zoos and Aquariums The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...

(AZA), the organization responsible for accrediting zoos in North America, neither approves of nor breeds the animals, because they focus on the

conservation of wildlife Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an in ...

and programs serving that purpose.

References

Panthera hybrids Second generation hybrids {{feline-stub

Description

History

See also

References