Four of the five species of the big cats (the Panthera genus – lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard), the exception being the snow leopard can hybridize with each other to produce numerous hybrids. In fact, breeding of two different pantheras to produce hybrid big cats has been banned in many zoos and animal sanctuaries due to no conservation value of the hybrid, and the risk it poses on the mother that gives birth to it.

For instance, the ligers’ increased growth rate and enormous size can cause the tigress giving birth to have a difficult delivery, endangering both the mother and her liger cubs, which may be born prematurely or require a Caesarian. Common problems in cubs that survive are neurological disorders, obesity, genetic defects, and a shortened lifespan; though a few have reportedly made it to their twenties, many don’t survive past the age of seven.

Moreover, male ligers have lowered testosterone levels and sperm counts, rendering them infertile while females, though capable of reproducing with either a lion or a tiger, often give birth to sickly cubs that don’t survive.

However, hybrids do occur by accident in captivity.

Most hybrids would not survive in the wild due to the males being infertile, but a few (such as the Leopon – leopard father, lion mother) are fertile and have a chance of survival in the wild.

Related: Top 5 largest prehistoric cats

Here is the list of possible hybrid big cats (and some other smaller felines).

Liger

Hercules – the liger, the largest cat on Earth. Guinness World Records 2012 Photo Credit: Jamers Ellerker/GuinnessWorld Records Location: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

Father: Lion, Mother: Tiger

Tawny, golden and white forms. Ligers are the largest of all known extant felines.

Ligers enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Ligers (and tigons) exist only in captivity because the habitats of the parental species do not overlap in the wild. Historically, when the Asiatic Lion was prolific, the territories of lions and tigers did overlap and there are legends of ligers existing in the wild.

A male liger named Nook at the Valley of the Kings Animal Sanctuary in Wisconsin who died in 2007 weighed over 550 kg (1,213 lb). This is a huge weight for a big cat, even for a liger. It is believed that he was probably the largest and biggest cat ever lived on Earth.

According to the Liger World website, Nook was abandoned by its owners when it was around 3 and a half months old. It is very common within the USA to abandon big cats because they grow so big that it becomes almost impossible for their owners to fulfill their food consumption and care. He was transferred to the animal sanctuary at the age of 4 months. He weighed over 550 kg (1,213 lb), and probably up to 615 kg (1,400 lb). This is a huge weight for a big cat, even for a liger. It is believed that he was probably the largest and biggest cat ever lived on Earth. At the age of 21 Nook was euthanized to death because of cancer. Image: Liger World website

Tigon

A tigon is a hybrid cross between a male tiger (Panthera tigris) and a female lion (Panthera leo). Thus, it has parents with the same genus but of different species. The tigon is not currently as common as the converse hybrid, the liger. The tigon’s genome includes genetic components of both parents. Tigons can 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. It is a common misconception that tigons are smaller than lions or tigers. They do not exceed the size of their parent species because they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from the lioness mother, but they do not exhibit any kind of dwarfism or miniaturization; they often weigh around 180 kilograms (400 lb).

Father: Tiger, Mother: Lion

Alternative names: tion, tigron, tiglon

Tawny, golden and white forms. A tigon is often smaller than either a lion or tiger though some have attained or exceeded the size of the smaller parent.

Li-liger

Father: Lion, Mother: Liger

More lion-like.

America’s first liliger cubs born in the GW Zoo. In this video, these baby liligers playing in the grass after the spring rain.

Li-tigon

Father: Lion, Mother: Tigon

More lion-like.

Ti-liger

Father: Tiger, Mother: Liger

Alternative name: Tig-liger

More tiger-like.

Tiligers: half tiger half liger. In the video above, a tiliger and an Amur leopard cubs are playing.

Ti-tigon

Father: Tiger, Mother: Tigon

Alternative name: Tig-tigon

More tiger-like.

Jagulep

Father: Jaguar, Mother: Leopard

Alternative name: Jagleop

Chicago, America. Spots and rosettes.

Lijagulep

Father: Lion, Mother: Jagulep (Jagleop)

Alternative name: Lijagleop

Chicago, America. Later exhibited as the Congolese Spotted Lion.

Tigard

Father: Tiger, Mother: Leopard

Alternative name: Tipard

In 1900, Carl Hagenbeck crossed a female leopard with a Bengal tiger. The stillborn offspring had a mixture of spots, rosettes, and stripes. 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.”

According to a report in a 1978 edition of the British tabloid paper “Sun”, a “ pantig ” (panther-tiger hybrid) was born at Southam Zoo, a private zoo located on Warwickshire farm (Southam is between Royal Leamington Spa and Daventry). The purported pantig was the result of a mating between a male black leopard and a tigress and was fostered by a Dachshund. The cub’s background color was the typical yellow-brown shade of normal leopards.

Unlike earlier attempts at captive-breeding leopard-tiger hybrids, this purported hybrid evidently survived into adulthood. Eventually, the Southam Zoo pantig was sold to an American zoo. Although this account is currently not scientifically authenticated, it indicates that the leopard’s recessive melanism gene is also recessive to the tiger’s normal tawny color.

Pumapard

A pumapard is a hybrid of a puma and a leopard. Both male pumas with female leopard and male leopard with female puma pairings have produced offspring. In general, these hybrids have exhibited a tendency to dwarfism. Photo: Wikipedia

Pumapard (Rothschild Museum). Photo: Wikipedia

Father: Puma, Mother: Leopard

In the late 1890s/early 1900s, two hybrids were born in Chicago, USA, followed 2 years later by three sets of twin cubs born at a zoo in Hamburg, Germany from a puma father and leopard mother. Carl Hagenbeck apparently bred several litters of puma x leopard hybrids in 1898 at the suggestion of a menagerie owner in Britain; this was possibly Lord Rothschild (as one of the hybrids is preserved in his museum) who may have heard of the two hybrid cubs bred in Chicago in 1896 and suggested Hagenbeck reproduced the pairing.

Leopon

Father: Leopard, Mother: Lion

Alternative name: Lepon

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, but there are a few in Japanese zoos and also bred in Italy.

Liard

Father: Lion, Mother: Leopard

Alternative name: Lipard

Leopard x lioness seems more likely pairing. Liard hybrid is unconfirmed. Would be similar to Leopon.

Caraval

Father: Caracal, Mother: Serval

No precise parent details for caraval.

Servical

Father: Serval, Mother: Caracal

Los Angeles, America. Accidental one-off; were sold as pets.

Sources