#hybrid felines

[ghostomelon]

The pelt of a supposed “marozi” or spotted lion killed by Michael Trent (1931).

The marozi is theorized to be:

A distinct race of the African lion adapted for a montane rather than savanna-dwelling existence.

A rare natural hybrid of a leopard and lion.

An adult lion that retained its childhood spots.

It is believed to have been smaller than a lion, but slightly larger in size than a leopard and lacking any distinguishable mane. It has been reported in the wild and the skin of a specimen exists, but it has yet to be confirmed as either a separate species or subspecies.

[c4n1ne]

A lipard (Panthera leo x Panthera pardus), the hybrid offspring of a male lion and a female leopardess.

Mr Franco Stenta of Barberino Mugello owned a number of tame big captive-born big cats: 2 male lions, 2 male tigers, 1 tiger cub and a leopardess. These had been acquired from Rome Zoo and were tame to the point of being domesticated. One lion (Panthera leo) named Puff, the leopardess (Panthera pardus) named Miccia, and the tiger cub were housed in cages in the courtyard of the Stenta family's paper factory in Florence. The owner did not expect or intend them to breed. The (Panthera leo x Panthera pardus) hybrid “lipard” (often called a "leopon" or "reverse leopon") came as a complete surprise to the owner and at first he mistook it for a domestic cat, which he thought had slipped into the cage.

The father of the hybrid was a 2 year old, 250 kilogram lion; he was 1.08 meters tall at the shoulders and 1.8 meters long (excluding his tail). The mother was a 3.5 year old leopardess, weighing only 38 kilograms. The female cub was born overnight on the 26th-27th of August, 1982. Its estimated birth-weight was similar to that of a leopard cub, and the estimated gestation period was 92-93 days. 

Miccia was initially a good mother, but began to over-groom the cub, biting off its tail when it was 2 days old. From then on, the cub was left alone with its mother only while nursing. After 2 weeks, it was hand-reared. At 5 months old, it weighed 13-14 kilograms and was one third the size of its mother. It had the body conformation and large head of a lion cub, but the receding forehead of a leopard, with fawn fur and thick but faded spotting.

[c4n1ne]

A mounted specimen of a “jaglion,” the hybrid offspring of a male jaguar (Panthera onca) and a female lioness (Panthera leo) 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.

[c4n1ne]

A leopon (Panthera leo x Panthera pardus), the hybrid offspring of a male leopard (Panthera pardus) and a female lioness (Panthera leo).

[c4n1ne]

The pelt of a “Leopon” (Panthera pardus x Panthera leo), the hybrid offspring of a male leopard (Panthera pardus) and a Lioness (Panthera leo).

In 1912, R. I. Peacock described this skin with the following:

“I am greatly indebted... to Mr W S Millard, the Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society, for sending me a skin of a specimen, which was bred in the gardens at Kolhapur between a male panther i.e. a large leopard and a lioness. There were two cubs in the litter. One, whose skin is here figured, died when about two and a half months old, whereas the other, now about two years old is, I believe, still living.

“At first sight this skin recalls that of the leopard in being covered with spots; but those on the side of the body are much smaller and closer set than in typical Indian leopards, and also browner and altogether less distinct, as if beginning to disappear with age, as is the case with lions. On the head, down the spine, on the belly and the legs, they are however quite black and distinct. The tail is very confusedly spotted above, but striped below, and has a blackish tip covered with longer hairs. Another leonine feature is the dirty white - rather than clear white - tint of the underside, while the ears are fawn with a broad, black bar, but are without the white spot seen in leopards.”

[c4n1ne]

At Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan, Sonoko the lioness (Panthera leo) was mated to a male leopard (Panthera pardus) named Kaneo. A litter of 2 hybrid “Leopon” (Panthera leo x Panthera pardus) cubs was born in 1959, and 3 more (Johnny, Daisy and Cherry) were born in 1962. Unlike male leopards in the wild, the normally solitary Kaneo remained with the "pride” after the birth of the cubs.

In terms of size, the leopons take after their lioness mother and are larger than leopards. They have stout, lion-like bodies and shorter, leopard-like legs. They have brown (rather than black) spots and tufted tails. They climb like leopards and seem to enjoy water like leopards (oddly enough, the Japanese leopons were born to a water-loving lioness and a leopard that did not seem to like water).

When mature, the males had sparse manes about 20 cm long. Females were torn between the solitary nature of the leopard and the social nature of a lioness. Some of the photos show the cats as being extremely overweight, possibly due to a lack of testosterone; predisposing them to lay down fat instead of muscle (life in relatively small cages did not help matters). The hybrids proved to be sterile and the last one died in 1985.

[ainawgsd]

Hybrid Mammals-Domestic and Wild Cat Hybrids

1. F1 Bengal (domestic/asian leopard cat)

2. F2 Bengal 

3. F1 Savannah (domestic/serval)

4. F2 Savannah

5. Chausie (domestic/jungle cat)

6. Safari (domestic/geoffroy’s cat)

7. Caracat (abbysinian/caracal)

8. Jungle Curl (american curl/jungle cat)

9. hybridized Scottish Wildcat

10. Kellas Cat (black scottish wildcat hybrid)

A hybrid is the result of mixing, through sexual reproduction, two animals or plants of different species or genera. The offspring typically display traits and characteristics of both parents. Many hybrids are created by humans, but natural hybrids occur as well. 

Hybrids between different subspecies within a species (such as between the Bengal tiger and Siberian tiger) are known as intra-specific hybrids. Hybrids between different species within the same genus (such as between lions and tigers) are sometimes known as interspecific hybrids or crosses. Hybrids between different genera (such as between sheep and goats) are known as intergeneric hybrids. Extremely rare interfamilial hybrids have been known to occur (such as the guineafowl hybrids). No interordinal (between different orders) animal hybrids are known.  

A number of hybrids between various felid species are possible. The domesticated form of the African wildcat, known as F. silvestris catus, has been hybridized with several wild felid species. Some pairings have given rise to more than one breed developed under different registries and bred to different standards for appearance and different percentages of wild felid genes.