Panthera hybrid

There are a number of hybrids of Panthera species.

	Lioness♀	Tigress♀	Jaguar♀	Leopard♀
Lion♂	Lion	Liger	Liguar	Liard
Tiger♂	Tigon	Tiger	Tiguar	Tigard
Jaguar♂	Jaglion		Jaguar	Jagulep
Leopard♂	Leopon	Leotig	Lepjag	Leopard

Dogla

A dogla is a supposedly a 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 aberrant patterns. The Indian name for leopard is "chita-bagh" which means "spotted tiger" (or more correctly "spotted big cat" since "bagh" refers to any of the big cats). Many Europeans understood "bagh" to mean tiger and misunderstood chita-bagh as meaning a hybrid. In Ranthombore, a tiger and leopard became hunting partners, but there was no evidence of courtship or mating. They were both shot during a hunt.

A supposed leopard/tiger hybrid shot in the early 1900s was nothing like the traditional description of a dogla. F.C. Hicks, a Deputy Conservator of the Imperial Forest Service, wrote in "Forty Years Among The Wild Animals Of India" (1910) "During the beat the spotted head of a panther of extraordinary size pushed its way through the grass, followed by the unmistakable striped shoulders and body of a tiger. 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 was lost. It was 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 "bastard" and which suggests a dogla (tiger/leopard hybrid) belief of local people. Sankhala himself did not believe there ever were any leopard/tiger hybrids. With regard to Hicks' hybrid, Sankhala could find no such specimen in any museum. Sankhala noted the belief 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 animal thought to be the cross between a tiger and a female panther. This particular specimen disappeared after seriously mauling the witness who described his attacker: "...its head and neck were purely those of a panther but the body, shoulders, and neck ruff unmistakably of a tiger - the black stripes being broad and long, though somewhat blurred rosettes, the stripes of the tiger being most prominent in the body. The animal was a male measuring a little over eight feet." 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".

Jaglion

A jaglion or jaguon is the offspring between a male jaguar and a female lion (lioness). An image of a jaglion can be found at Hybrid Big Cats. The mounted specimen is on display at the Natural History Museum, Tring, England. It has the lion's background colour, brown jaguar-like rosettes and the powerful build of the jaguar.

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. 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.

Jagulep

A jagulep, or jagleop, is the hybrid of a jaguar and a leopardess. A single female rosetted, female jagulep was produced at a zoo in Chicago. The terms jagulep and lepjag are often used interchangeably regardless of which animal was the sire. Numerous lepjaps have been bred as animal actors as they are more tractable than jaguars. The jaguar-leopard hybrids bred at Hellbrun Zoo, Salzburg were described as jagupards which conforms to the usual portmanteau naming convention.

When a jagulep or lepjag decide to cross breed with a lion, the offspring are referred to as lijaguleps. One such complex hybrid was exhibited under the name of a Congolese Spotted Lion, hinting at some exotic beast rather than a man-made hybrid.

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.

Leotig

A leotig is a hybrid of a male leopard and a tigress. There are many rumors of such offspring, but nothing proven. This hybrid is more commonly known as a dogla.

Lepjag

A lepjag, or leguar, 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 lepjaps have been bred as animal actors as they are more tractable than jaguars.

The female hybrids are fertile and when a female jagulep or lepjag 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.

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 lion x leopardess hybrid was born in Schoenbrunn Zoo, Vienna in 1951.

Another lion x leopardess hybrid 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 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

Liger

A liger is the offspring between a male lion and a female tiger. It looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes.

Liguar

A liguar is a hybrid of a male lion and female jaguar. Such hybrids have been attempted but there are no confirmed results of such attempts. A liguar has never been confirmed in the wild, though tries may be sucessful in the future. Ligers and tigons have been sucessful. Ligers have been suggested to be the genus of Panthera leo X tigris. Panthera tigris X leo is suggested to be the genus of the tigons.

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.

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. Due to combining genetics, adult Tigons are smaller than adult lions and tigers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers.

Tiguar

A tiguar is a tiger/jaguar hybrid. To date, there have been no known successful attempts in the mating of these species. A theoretical hybrid would be similar to the Dogla, but more powerfully built.