Panthera hybrid

The four living species of Panthera genus (Panthera leo (Lion), Panthera onca (Jaguar), Panthera pardus (Leopard), Panthera tigris (Tiger)) may produce a number of hybrid crosses. These hybrids are usually described with a portmanteau name, and sometimes with a traditional name.

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Jaguar and leopard hybrids

Jagupard

A jagupards, or jagulep, or jagleop, is the hybrid of a jaguar and a leopardess. A single rosetted, female jagulep was produced at a zoo in Chicago. Jaguar-leopard hybrids bred at Hellbrun Zoo, Salzburg were described as jagupards which conforms to the usual portmanteau naming convention.

• H Windischbauer, Hellbrun Zoo (1968)

Leguar

A leguar, or lepjag, is the hybrid of a male leopard and a female jaguar. The terms jagulep and lepjag are often used interchangeably regardless of which animal was the sire. Numerous lepjags have been bred as animal actors as they are more tractable than jaguars.

The Field No 2887, April 25th, 1908, Henry Scherren: "In a paper on the breeding of the larger Felidae in captivity (P.Z.S [Proceedings of the Zoological Society]., 1861, p. 140), A.D. Bartlett stated : "I have more than once met with instances of the male jaguar (F. onca) breeding with a female leopard (F. leopardus). These hybrids were also reared recently in Wombell's well known travelling collection. I have seen some animals of this kind bred between a male black jaguar and a female Indian leopard:-the young partook strongly of the male being almost black.

In Barnabos menagerie (in Spain) a jaguar threw two cubs by a black panther, one resembled the dam, but was somewhat darker, the other was black with the rosettes of the dam showing. (Zoolog. Gart., 1861, 7)" (Since melanism in the panther (leopard) is recessive, the jaguar would either have been black or be a jaguar-black leopard hybrid itself, carrying the recessive gene.) Scherren continued "The same cross, but with the sexes reveresed, was noted, by Professor Sacc (F) of Barcelona Zoo (Zool Gart, 1863, 88) "The cub a female was grey: she is said to have produced two cubs to her sire; one like a jaguar, the other like the dam. Herr Rorig expressed his regret that the account of the last two cases mentioned lacked fulness and precision."

Lijagulep

Main article: Congolese Spotted Lion

The female of jagulep or lepjag are fertile, and when one of them is mated to a male lion, the offspring are referred to as lijaguleps. One such complex hybrid was exhibited in the early 1900s under the name of a Congolese Spotted Lion, hinting at some exotic beast captured in darkest Africa rather than a man-made hybrid.

Jaguar and lion hybrids

Jaglion

A jaglion or jaguon is the offspring between a male jaguar and a female lion (lioness). A mounted specimen (actually a lijagulep) is on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, Hertfordshire, England. It has the lion's background color, brown jaguar-like rosettes and the powerful build of the jaguar.

On April 9, 2006, two Jaglions were born at Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, Barrie (north of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. Jahzara (female) and Tsunami (male) were the result of an unintended mating between a black jaguar called Diablo and a lioness called Lola who had been hand-raised together and were inseparable. They were kept apart when Lola came into oestrus. Tsunami is spotted, but Jahzara is a melanistic jaglion due to inheriting the jaguar's dominant melanism gene. It was not previously known how the jaguar's dominant melanism gene would interact with lion coloration genes.

There is an unverifiable report of a lioness/black jaguar cross seen in Maui, Hawaii, in the company of an alleged tiger/black jaguar cross tiguar ("tiguars" have never been bred and may be impossible). The description of the supposed black jaglion matches that of a present-day African lion: a short, thick black mane on its head and around its neck, extending around the ears and underneath the chin; and a puffy gray face. Its body was entirely dark tawny and the tail had a black tuft. Identification of a jaguar/lion hybrid is based on facial features. The animals tendency to have uneven teeth have also led to them being called Iyanas. Non-expert observers rarely reliably identify hybrids while cryptozoology enthusiasts rarely exercise sufficient skepticism. The two animals witnessed were probably male and female African lions.

Liguar

A liguar is the offspring of a Lion and a Jaguaress. Liguars are the most common lion/jaguar hybrid.

Jaguar and tiger hybrids

There are no known successful attempts in the mating of these species, either from a jaguar/tigress or a tiger/jaguaress pairing. Any offspring would probably be named according to portmanteau conventions as jagger or tiguar, and any such hybrid would probably resemble the Dogla though more powerfully built.

Leopard and lion hybrids

Leopon

Main article: Leopon

A leopon is the result of breeding a male leopard with a female lion, or lioness. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. Leopons are very rare.

Liard

A liard or lipard is the proper term for a hybrid of a male lion with a leopardess. It is sometimes known as a reverse leopon. The size difference between a male lion and a leopardess usually makes the mating of the two difficult.

A liard was born in Schoenbrunn Zoo, Vienna in 1951.

Another liard was born in Florence, Italy (it is often erroneously referred to as a leopon). It was born on the grounds of a paper mill near Florence to a lion and leopardess acquired from a Rome zoo. Their owner had 2 tigers, 2 lions and a leopardess as pets and did not expect or intend them to breed. The lion/leopard hybrid cub came as a surprise to the owner who originally thought the small spotted creature in the cage was a stray domestic cat. The cub had the body conformation of a lion cub with a large head (a lion trait) but receding forehead (a leopard trait), fawn fur and thick brown spotting. When it reached 5 months old, the owner offered it for sale and set about trying to breed more.

The father was a 2 year old 250 kg lion 1.08 m tall at the shoulders and 1.8 m long (excluding tail). The mother was a 3.5 year old leopardess weighing only 38 kg. The female cub was born overnight on 26/27 August 1982 after 92-93 days gestation. The mother began to over-groom the cub and later bit off its tail. The cub was then hand-reared. The parents mated again in November 1982 and the leopardess appeared pregnant, however the lion continued to mate her and they had to be kept apart.

P L Florio published a report "Birth of a Lion x Leopard Hybrid in Italy" in International-Zoo-News, 1983; 30(2): 4-6

Leopard and tiger hybrids

Dogla

A dogla, is a male leopard and a tigress. There are many rumors of such offspring, but nothing proven.

The name dogla is used for a supposedly natural hybrid offspring of a tiger and a leopard or possibly a leopard with aberrant patterns.

Note: The term "panther" used here refers exclusively to the Indian leopard in either spotted or black form.

There is anecdotal evidence in India of offspring resulting from leopard to tigress matings. The supposed hybrids are called "dogla". Indian folklore claims that large male leopards sometimes mate with tigresses. A supposed dogla was reported in the early 1900s. Many reports are probably large leopards with abdominal striping or other striped shoulders and body of a tiger. One account stated, "On examining it, I found it to be a very old male hybrid. Its head and tail were purely those of a panther, but with the body, shoulders, and neck ruff of a tiger. The pattern was a combination of rosettes and stripes; the stripes were black, broad and long, though somewhat blurred and tended to break up into rosettes. The head was spotted. The stripes predominated over the rosettes." The pelt of this hybrid, if it ever existed, was lost. It was supposedly larger than a leopard and, though male, it showed some feminization of features which might be expected in a sterile male hybrid.

K Sankhala's book "Tiger" refers to large troublesome leopards as "adhabaghera" which he translated as " " and which suggests a dogla (tiger/leopard hybrid) belief of local people. Sankhala amongst local people that tigers and leopards naturally hybridise. There may have been plans to test this theory at New Delhi Zoo during the 1970s.

From "The Tiger, Symbol Of Freedom", edited by Nicholas Courtney: "Rare reports have been made of tigresses mating with lions in the wild. There has even been an account of the sighting of an rosettes, the stripes of the tiger being most prominent in the body. The animal was a male measuring a little over eight feet [2.44 m]." This is the same description given by Hicks.

In 1900, Carl Hagenbeck crossed a female leopard with a Bengal tiger. The stillborn offspring had a mixture of spots, rosettes and stripes. The 1951 book "Mammalian Hybrids" reported that tiger/leopard matings were infertile, producing spontaneously aborted "walnut sized foetuses".

Tigard

A tigard is the hybrid offspring of a male tiger and a leopardess. The only known attempts to mate the two have produced stillborns.

In 1900, Carl Hagenbeck crossed a female leopard with a Bengal tiger. The stillborn offspring had a mixture of spots, rosettes and stripes. In The Field No 2887, April 25th, 1908, Henry Scherren wrote "A male tiger from Penang served two female Indian leopards, and twice with success. Details are not given and the story concludes somewhat lamely. 'The leopardess dropped her cubs prematurely, the embryos were in the first stage of development and were scarcely as big as young mice.' Of the second leopardess there is no mention. "

The 1951 book "Mammalian Hybrids" reported that tiger/leopard matings were infertile, producing spontaneously aborted "walnut sized foetuses".

Lion and tiger hybrids

Liger

Main article: Liger

A liger is the offspring between a male lion and a female tiger. It looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes. It is the largest felid, but the Amur tiger is the largest pure cat.

Tigon

Main article: Tigon

A tigon is the hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger. Unlike popular belief, Tigons are not smaller because of combining genetics. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers.