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 or miniaturization; they often weigh around . It is distinct from the
liger, 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; in 1943, however, a 15-year-old hybrid between a lion and a tiger was successfully mated at the Munich
Hellabrunn Zoo. The female cub was then raised to adulthood.
Like the liger, male tigons are sterile while the females are fertile.
At the
Alipore Zoo 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 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 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 to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, which has some tigers,
See also
* Liliger
* ''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