4 years ago
Monday, December 21, 2009
Many people know about Panthera Hybrids but might not know the term panthera hybrid. Panthera hybrids are crossbreeds between the big cats in the genus, panthera. The most common and possibly the most well known is the liger (tigress and male lion) or the tigon (male tiger and lioness) These big cat hybrids are 10-12 feet long and males have a 50% chance of a mane. Panthera hybrids have no scientific names but ligers/tigons have been known to be called (by some) panthera leoXtigris or panthera tigrisXleo and ligers have even been known to be called panthera ligris but none of these names are true scientific names. Many people have tried to breed tigers with jaguars or leopards but have had no or little success.
Ligers and Tigons are not the only panthera hybrids. There are Jaguar, Leopard hybrids too known as jaguleps, lepjags or jagpards, though jagulep is the most common term. Lions have also been successfully bred with jaguars and leopards. A lion, Jaguar hybrid is known as Jaglion or liguar and a lion, leopard hybrid is known as lipard or leopon. There is even a lion, jaguar, leopard mix comming from a female jagulep and a lion resulting in a lijagulep.
All male panthera hybrids cannot reproduce but females have the ability to have cubs.
The many attempts to breed tigers with jaguars or leopards have resulted with stillborn cubs or cubs that only survive a few hours. A tiger,leopard hybrid is known as a dogla or a tigard but all tiger x leopard hybrids have been stillborn. Tiger, jaguar hybrids are known as a jagger or a tiguar with mainly stillborns with one exception. The Altiplano Zoo has been lucky enough to produce a healthy male tiguar named Mickey, who. as of 2009, is two years old