Tiglon

Tiglon
Tiglon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: Panthera tigris × Panthera leo

A tiglon(pronounced /ˈtaɪɡlən/), tigon, and tion (not tigron) is a hybrid cross between a male tiger (Panthera tigris) and a lioness (Panthera leo). Thus, it has parents with the same genus but of different species. The tiglon is not currently as common as the converse hybrid, the liger; however, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tiglons were more common than ligers.

Tiglons can exhibit characteristics of 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 tiglon 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 tiglons 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).

A century ago, tiglons were evidently more common than ligers. Gerald Iles, in At Home in the Zoo (1961), was able to obtain three tiglons for Manchester's Belle Vue Zoo, but wrote that he had never seen a liger. A number of tiglons are currently being bred in China.

Contents

Fertility

In Wild Cats of the World (1975), Guggisberg wrote that ligers and tiglons were long thought to be sterile; in 1943, however, a fifteen-year-old hybrid between a lion and an "Island" tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the Munich Hellabrunn Zoo. The female cub, although of delicate health, was raised to adulthood.

At the Alipore Zoo in India, a female tiglon named Rudhrani, born in 1971, was successfully mated to an Asiatic Lion named Debabrata. The rare, second generation hybrid was called a litigon (pronounced /ˌlaɪˈtaɪɡən/). Rudhrani produced seven litigons in her lifetime. Some of these reached impressive sizes—a litigon named Cubanacan (died 1991) weighed at least 363 kilograms (800 lb), stood 1.32 metres (4.3 ft) at the shoulder, and was 3.5 metres (11 ft) in total length.

Reports also exist of the similar titigon (/ˌtaɪˈtaɪɡən/), resulting from the cross between a female tiglon and a male tiger. Titigons resemble golden tigers but with less contrast in their markings. A female tiglon born in 1978, named Noelle, shared an enclosure in the Shambala Preserve with a male Siberian Tiger called Anton, due to the keepers' belief that she was sterile. In 1983 Noelle produced a titigon named Nathaniel. As Nathaniel was three-quarters tiger, he had darker stripes than Noelle and vocalized more like a tiger, rather than with the mix of sounds used by his mother. Being only about quarter-lion, Nathaniel did not grow a mane. Nathaniel died of cancer at the age of eight or nine years. Noelle also developed cancer and died soon after.[citation needed]

See also

References

  • Guggisberg, Wild Cats of the World (1975)

External links



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • tiglon — [tī′gän΄, tī′gəntī′glän΄, tī′glən] n. [ TIG(ER) + L(I)ON] the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion: also tigon [tī′gän΄, tī′gən] …   English World dictionary

  • tiglon — tigron [ tigrɔ̃ ] n. m. • v. 1937; de tigre et lion ♦ Zool. Félin, hybride d une lionne et d un tigre. On dit aussi TIGLON . ● tigron ou tiglon nom masculin (de tigre et lion) Hybride stérile du tigre et de la lionne, ou du lion et de la tigresse …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • tiglon — noun Etymology: tiger + lion Date: 1942 a hybrid between a male tiger and a female lion …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Tiglon — Tigron Un tigron est un hybride issu du croisement artificiel d un tigre et d une lionne. Il n est pas aussi fréquent que son contraire, le ligre, bien que vers la fin du XIXe siècle et au début du XXe il se rencontrait plus fréquemment. Les …   Wikipédia en Français

  • tiglon — /tuy gleuhn/, n. the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion. Also, tigon /tuy geuhn/. Cf. liger. [1940 45; TIG(ER) + L(I)ON] * * * …   Universalium

  • tiglon — noun A fertile hybrid cross between a male tiger (Panthera tigris) and a lioness (Panthera leo) …   Wiktionary

  • tiglon — n. crossbreeding of a male tiger and a female lion …   English contemporary dictionary

  • tiglon — ti·glon …   English syllables

  • tiglon — ti•glon [[t]ˈtaɪ glən[/t]] also ti•gon [[t] gən[/t]] n. mam the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion Compare liger Etymology: 1940–45; tig ( er) +l ( i ) on …   From formal English to slang

  • tiglon — noun offspring of a male tiger and a female lion • Syn: ↑tigon • Hypernyms: ↑big cat, ↑cat * * * ˈtīglən noun ( s) Etymology: tiger + …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”