What Is A Tigon?

Filed in Category Tigons

A Tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. Like all hybrid species, there is no scientific name assigned to this animal. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger, however in the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers. Tigons do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviours and habitats.
Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother (lions carry genes for spots – lion cubs are spotted) 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, due to the fact that they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents, but they do not exhibit any kind of dwarfism or miniaturisation; they often weigh around 150 kilograms (350 lb). They appear “housecat-like”.
The comparative rarity of tigons is attributed to male tigers finding the courtship behaviour of a lioness too subtle and thus may miss behavioural cues that signal her willingness to mate. However lionesses actively solicit mating so their current rarity is most likely due to them being less impressive in size than ligers. A century ago, tigons were evidently more common than ligers. Gerald Iles, in “At Home In The Zoo” (1961) was able to obtain 3 tigons for Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo, but wrote that he had never seen a liger. A number of tigons are currently being bred in China.

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5 Comments so far

  1. Jersey Girl on August 26, 2009 12:35 AM

    The offspring from a male Tiger and female Lion.
    A Liger is the offspring of a male Lion and female Tiger and are huge!

  2. davidbyr on August 26, 2009 12:58 AM

    A Tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. Like all hybrid species, there is no scientific name assigned to this animal. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger, however in the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers. Tigons do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviours and habitats.
    Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother (lions carry genes for spots – lion cubs are spotted) 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, due to the fact that they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents, but they do not exhibit any kind of dwarfism or miniaturisation; they often weigh around 150 kilograms (350 lb). They appear “housecat-like”.
    The comparative rarity of tigons is attributed to male tigers finding the courtship behaviour of a lioness too subtle and thus may miss behavioural cues that signal her willingness to mate. However lionesses actively solicit mating so their current rarity is most likely due to them being less impressive in size than ligers. A century ago, tigons were evidently more common than ligers. Gerald Iles, in “At Home In The Zoo” (1961) was able to obtain 3 tigons for Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo, but wrote that he had never seen a liger. A number of tigons are currently being bred in China.
    —————-
    In simple terms it is a mixed breed of lion and tiger.
    Also, sorry for repeating the first answer, I didn’t see it:)

  3. luckysla on August 26, 2009 1:10 AM

    a male tiger

  4. ash_09_1 on August 26, 2009 2:05 AM

    A hybrid animal bred from a tiger and a lion.

  5. luckylab on August 26, 2009 2:25 AM

    It is a mix of a male Tiger and a female Lion…. very strange animal. The opposite is called the Liger. They have characteristics of both species.



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