Leopons are the offspring of a male leopard and a lioness. They have been bred in zoos in India, Japan, Germany and Italy (this latter was more correctly a Lipard - offspring of a lion and leopardess). Karl Hagenbeck, who produced many different hybrids, recorded the birth of leopons at the Hamburg Tierpark in Germany, but none survived to maturity. A supposed leopard x lion hybrid was exhibited in Regent's Park Zoo, London. This was more leopard-like than lion-like apart from the rather square head and the large ears. There is also a report of a natural leopard/lioness mating where a lioness was expelled from her pride and formed an alliance with a male leopard. When the lioness came on heat, she was mated by the leopard and allegedly gave birth to leopon cubs. The Marozi is claimed to be a naturally occurring leopard/lion hybrid. However, H Scherren (1908) notes that wild leopard-lion hybrids were unlikely as an encounter between the two species would more likely result in the leopard's death.

A leopon "flat study skin and skull" from the Kolhapur Zoo in India (bred in 1910) was donated to the British Museum of Natural History by Lt Col FW Wodehouse of the Junior United Services sometime before 1940. The more famous Japanese leopons are preserved as mounted specimens in Japan.

The leopon is documented in R I Pocock's letter to The Field of 2nd November 1912 and the 1913-14 Vol. of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. It refers to three more letters in The Field 1908 April 18, 25, and May 9th. Judging from the letters, the Indian leopons were born in 1910. Pocock wrote in November 1912:

"So far as I am aware there is no published description of a hybrid lion and leopard. I am greatly indebted, therefore, to Mr W S Millard, the Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society, for sending me a skin of a specimen, which, according to the testimony of Col F W Wodehouse, 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.

The nearest approach to this hybrid hitherto reported is the one bred at Chicago between a male lion and a female cross between a jaguar and a leopard, the true story of which, accompanied by a good figure by Mr Frohawk, may be found in the Field for April 18 and 25, and May 9, 1908. The final episode in the history of that animal has, I believe, not yet been told. After being exhibited in the Zoological Gardens and at the White City it went to Glasgow, where, according to a sensational Press notice, it was killed by a lion, which broke down the partition between the cages and made short work of its opponent. That this story was of a piece with the original account of the hybrid given out when it first appeared on the market may be inferred from the condition of the dressed skin, which had no sign of a tear or scratch upon it in London shortly after the alleged tragedy. The chief difference between this hybrid of three species and the lion-leopard born at Kolhapur lies in the size of the spots, those of the former being large and jaguar-like, as might be expected, while those of the latter are small and more leopard-like."

The most successful and famous leopon programme was at Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan. Sonoko the lioness was mated to a leopard called Kaneo. The exotic, spectacular hybrids were popular with the public, but the programme was criticised in zoological and animal welfare circles. Hiroyuki Doi was the director at Hanshin when the leopons were bred. The idea of creating hybrids was discussed during 1954 and the zoo had the choice of breeding lion-tiger or lion-leopard hybrids as they had a good breeding record for all three species. Because other zoos had successfully bred ligers and tigons, they decided on lipards (lion/leopardess) or leopons (leopard/lioness) as they believed these had not been bred before. Each parent was carefully selected. The male leopard, Kaneo, was born at the zoo in January 1955. The female lion cub, Sonoko, was born there in March 1955. They were caged together in December 1955 to get acquainted. According to Doi, for the next 3 years their food was carefully chosen and hormones were added.

The size difference almost caused the plan to be abandoned, but in March and June 1959, three matings were witnessed and the lioness was then closely observed and supervised. Disappointingly she did not show signs of pregnancy, but by the end of September 1959, zoo staff were certain that Sonoko was pregnant. They could not be certain of the due date as lions gestation period is 105-110 days and leopards' gestation period is 90-95 days. Sonoko had 6 formal checkups each day and he cubs were born after 97 days, several days earlier than expected and before Kaneo and Sonoko could be separated. On the morning of 2nd November 1959, Sonoko became restless, trying to hid from staff observing her and her belly had dropped. That afternoon, Kaneo was observed carrying an apparently dead cub around in his mouth. Staff managed to get it from him and give the cub to Sonoko while they isolated Kaneo. To their surprise, the cub was alive and vigourous and the lioness accepted it back in spite of human handling. That night she had a second cub. A litter of 2 hybrids was born in 1959 and 3 more (Johnny, Daisy and Cherry) were born in 1962. In captivity, the normally solitary male leopard remained with the family (social behaviour is sometimes seen in captive big cats).

In terms of size, the leopons take after the 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 will climb like leopards and seem to enjoy water, also like the leopard (oddly enough, the Japanese leopons were born of a water-loving lioness and a male leopard that did not seem to like water!). When mature, males had sparse manes about 20 cm long when adult (Florio, 1983). Females may be torn between the solitary nature of the leopard and the social nature of a lioness. The hybrids proved to be sterile and the last one died in 1985.