lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
(''Panthera leo'') and a female
liger
The liger is a hybrid (biology), hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a tigress, or female tiger (''Panthera tigris''). The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the opposite ...
(''
Panthera leo
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is ...
tigon
The tigon is a hybrid offspring of a male tiger (''Panthera tigris'') and a female lion, or lioness (''Panthera leo'').liger
The liger is a hybrid (biology), hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a tigress, or female tiger (''Panthera tigris''). The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the opposite ...
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 () 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 Thalkirchen.
A high ratio of enclosures ...
.
Description
Male liligers are slightly larger than the females, and also sport a mane, a characteristic they share with male lions. While a liger will often inherit the sandy coloring and stripes of its parentage, liligers often develop rosettes similar to a
leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...
.
History
According to ''Wild Cats of the World'' (1975) by C. A. W. Guggisberg, ligers and
tigon
The tigon is a hybrid offspring of a male tiger (''Panthera tigris'') and a female lion, or lioness (''Panthera leo'').Novosibirsk Zoo 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 (AAZPA), is an American 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aqu ...
(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 and programs serving that purpose.