Leopon
The first documented leopon was bred at Kolhapur, India in 1910. Its skin was sent to R. I. Pocock by W. S. Millard, the Secretary of the Bombay
Natural History Society. It was a cross between a large leopard and a
lioness. Two cubs were born, one of which died aged 2.5 months and the
other was still living when Pocock described it in 1912. Pocock wrote
that it was spotted like a leopard, but that the spots on its sides
were smaller and closer set than those of an Indian leopard and were
brown and indistinct like the fading spots of a juvenile lion. The
spots on the head, spine, belly and legs were black and distinct. The
tail was spotted on the topside and striped underneath and had a
blackish tip with longer hairs. The underside was dirty white, the ears
were fawn and had a broad black bar but did not have the white spot
found in leopards. Pocock wrote that the closest he had previously seen
to this type of hybrid was the lijagulep (Congolese Spotted Lion) bred in Chicago.
They have been bred in zoos in Japan, Germany, and Italy
(the latter was a "reverse leopon" i.e. from a male lion and a
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 leopon skin and skull at the British
Museum comes from the animal bred at Kolhapur Zoo in India and was
donated by Lt. Col. F.W. Wodehouse of the Junior United Services
sometime between 1920 and 1940.
The most successful leopon programme was at Koshien Hanshin Park in
Nishinomiya City, Japan. A lioness called Sonoko was mated by a leopard
called Kaneo. The lioness voluntarily assumed a position on her side to
allow the much smaller leopard to mount her. A litter of 2 hybrids was
born in 1959 and 3 more were born in 1962. In captivity, the normally
solitary male leopard remained with the family (social behaviour is
sometimes seen in captive specimens of normally solitary big cats). The
hybrids proved to be sterile and the last one died in 1985. However,
later leopons have successfully fathered cubs with liguars, hybrids between a male lion and a female jaguar. The resulting animal is called a leoliguar. The programme of cross-breeding was popular with the public, but it was criticised in zoological and animal welfare circles.
Based on the data from the Japanese cats, leopons are larger than
leopards and combine features from the leopard and lion. They have
brown, rather than black, spots and tufted tails. They will climb like
leopards and seem to enjoy water, also like the leopard. Male leopons
may have sparse manes about 20 cm long.
P. L. Florio published a report "Birth of a Lion x Leopard Hybrid in
Italy" in 1983 (this refers to the "reverse leopon" also known as a lipard or liard).
from wikipedia
from wikipedia
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