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Home  Professor Paul's Guide to Mammals Carnivora;Carnivores Living mammals,family Felidae;Cats |
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TI-TIGON, TI-LIGER (TIG-LIGER), LI-TIGON, LI-LIGER
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Last update: 31-12-69 |
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Female tigons and ligers are often fertile and can mate with a lion, tiger or in theory with another species such as leopard or jaguar.
According to "Wild Cats Of The World" (1975) by Guggisberg, ligers and tigons 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, even though very delicate, was raised to adulthood." Prior to this all lion-tiger hybrids were believed to be sterile (even though other hybrid females such as jagulep females were already known to be fertile). 1943 seems to be the first recorded instance of a second generation hybrid of tiger and lion. This female tigon produced nine cubs in five litters between 1948 and 1950.
H Hemmer (1966) described the offspring of a female liger and a male lion (li-liger) as being smaller than a normal lioness. Its tiger markings were barely recognisable in summer, but were somewhat plainer in the winter coat. The progeny of female ligers mated to lions have also been described as resembling young lions.
Tigers and ligers have been mated together to produce ti-ligers (tig-ligers). Tigers and tigons have been mated to produce ti-tigons (below). Ti-ligers and ti-tigons are more tigerlike (75% tiger). Ti-tigons resemble golden tigers but with less contrast in their markings.
During the late 1970s/early 1980s, the Shambala Preserve had both a tigon and a ti-tigon. The full illustrated story of Noelle the tigon and Nathaniel, her ti-tigon son, is detailed in "The Cats of Shambala" by Tippi Hedren. On Christmas morning 1978, handler Brad Darrington found a 1 lb striped female cub hidden behind the den box in Nikita's compound. Nikita was the preserve's 600 lb tiger who ruled a pride of 9 lionesses. The cub was believed to have be born to Debbie, a lioness that had arrived from LA Animal Control as an orphan in 1974. None of the lionesses was thought to have been pregnant, though they did sometimes give birth surreptitiously. Debbie rejected the cub. The was named Noelle and was hand-reared. At 5 days old, Noelle began making the nasal, puffing "ff-fuff" sounds of the tiger as well as the happy "aa-oow" of a lion cub. While tiger cubs dislike being held or cuddled, Noelle had the cuddly nature of a lion cub. Her nose was tiger-like rather than blunt like a lion. At about 2 weeks old, Noelle was diagnosed with septic arthritis which caused her to limp. At the time of Noelle's birth, Hedren knew of only 3 other tigons in the US.
Being such a rarity, Noelle was widely photographed and her image appeared in magazines and articles around the world. At the age of 4 years, she was a little larger than the average lioness, being taller and longer-legged. Standing on her hind legs she measured 13 ft from tail tip to nose tip. Her stripes were brown, rather than black, on an orange background colour with a white belly. She had mottled spots on the top of her head. Her vocalisations were lioness-like rather than tigress-like and she had the sociable nature of the lion combined with the playfulness and love of water of the tiger. She also inherited an excellent jumping ability, easily making 10 ft vertical leaps.
Noelle was housed with 3 other tigresses and a 5 year old Amur (Siberian) tiger called Anton. Although the other lionesses and tigresses at the preserve were put on the contraceptive pill, Noelle was wrongly assumed to be sterile because she was a hybrid. She therefore came on heat regularly and mated with Anton from spring 1982 onwards. When Noelle displayed signs of pregnancy, it was assumed to be a false pregnancy (hormonal/psychological), however, on September 16th, 1983, she gave birth to a single small male cub. Noelle and the cub had to be separated from the other females who were attempting to kidnap the cub, wounding it in the process. The cub was named Nathaniel, this being derived from Tippi's birth name of Nathalie. Nathaniel was possibly the only ti-tigon in the world at the time.
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