The tigon is a
hybrid offspring of a male
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
(''Panthera tigris'') and a female
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 ...
, or lioness (''Panthera leo'').
[Techné v6n3 – Patenting and Transgenic Organisms: A Philosophical Exploration](_blank)
Scholar.lib.vt.edu. Retrieved on 17 September 2013. They exhibit
visible characteristics from both parents: they can have both spots from the mother (lions carry genes for spots – lion cubs are spotted and some adults retain faint markings) and stripes from the father. Any
mane that a male tigon may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion's mane and is closer in type to the ruff of a male tiger.
Tigons do not exceed the size of their parent species because they inherit
growth-inhibitory genes
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
from both parents, but they do not exhibit any kind of
dwarfism
Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...
or miniaturization; they often weigh around . It is distinct from the
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 ...
, which is a hybrid of a male lion and a female tiger, often weighing from to .
Fertility
Ligers and tigons were long thought to be
sterile
Sterile or sterility may refer to:
*Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants
* Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity
*Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...
; in 1943, however, a 15-year-old hybrid between a lion and a tiger was successfully mated at the Munich
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 ...
. The female cub was then raised to adulthood.
Like the liger, male tigons are sterile while the females are fertile.
At the
Alipore Zoo
The Zoological Garden, Alipore (also informally called the Alipore Zoo or Kolkata Zoo) is India's oldest formally stated zoological park (as opposed to royal
and British menageries) and a big tourist attraction in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, a tigoness named Rudhrani, born in 1971, was successfully mated to a male
Asiatic lion
The Asiatic lion is a lion population of the subspecies ''Panthera leo leo''. Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River in Pakistan to the Bengal region and the Narm ...
named Debabrata. The rare, second-generation hybrid was called a litigon. Rudhrani produced seven litigons in her lifetime. Some of these reached impressive sizes - a litigon named Cubanacan weighed at least , stood at the shoulder, and was in total length.
The litigon rediscovered
www.natureasia.com. Retrieved on 22 July 2017.
Coexistence of parental species
As with the liger, the tigon is found only in captivity,habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s of the tiger and lion do not overlap. In the past, however, the Asiatic lion did coexist with the Bengal tiger
The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...
in the wilderness of India, besides occurring in countries where the Caspian tiger
The Caspian tiger was a '' Panthera tigris tigris'' population native to eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus around the Caspian Sea, Central Asia to northern Afghanistan and the Xinjiang region in western China. Until the Midd ...
had been, such as Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.[Pocock, R. I. (1939)]
''The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia. – Volume 1''
Taylor and Francis Ltd., London. Pp. 199–222.plan
A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an Goal, objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a modal logic, temporal set (mathematics), set of intended actions through wh ...
to shift some lions from their current home of the Gir Forest
Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan Gir, is a forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary near Talala Gir in Gujarat, India. It is located north-east of Somnath, south-east of Junagadh and south-west of Amreli. ...
to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary
Kuno National Park is a national park and List of wildlife sanctuaries of India, wildlife sanctuary in Gird, India, Gwalior Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh, India. It derives its name from the Kuno River. It was established in 1981 as a wildli ...
, which has some tigers,
See also
*Liliger
The liliger is the hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a female liger ('' Panthera leo''♂ × '' Panthera tigris''♀). Thus, it is a second generation hybrid. In accordance with Haldane's rule, male tigons and ligers are st ...
* ''Panthera'' hybrid
References
External links
Detailed Information of hybrid big cats.Liger
snopes.com.
Questions about Animals
. Gk12.iastate.edu.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1383362
Panthera hybrids