Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Panthera

Scientific Name: Panthera leo × Panthera tigris

Top Speed: 50 mph

Lifespan: 18 - 22 years

Weight: 400kg - 600kg (882lbs - 1,322lbs)

Age of Sexual Maturity:3 - 4 years

Age of Weaning: 6 months

Gestation Period: 100 days

Bite Force: 900 psi

Parents:Male lion Female tiger

On the edge of the Mojave Desert near Los Angeles California , a lone liger, named Patrick, lived at Shambala Preserve, which bills itself as "a haven for endangered exotic big cats." ( Photo Above)

"The interesting thing about these animals is that they have the best qualities of the tiger and the best of the lion," Those qualities manifest themselves in the fact that they like to be in the water [a tiger trait] and are very social [a lion trait]."said movie actress and conservationist Tippi Hedren, who has run Shambala since 1972. Many of the cats at the 80-acre sanctuary are orphans or castoffs from circuses, zoos, and private owners who could no longer care for the animals.

Shambala Patrick arrived at the sanctuary after federal authorities shutdown the roadside zoo in Illinois where he lived.The 800-pound (360-kilogram) liger was kept in such a small cage that his hind-leg muscles had started to atrophy, said Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.Patrick's compound at Shambala allows him plenty of room for exercise. A stream runs through his compound, so his tiger half can play in the water or his lion half can stay out of it, whichever he chooses.

The liger hybrid is more common than the tigon because the mating process is easier. The liger has both stripes and spots. The stripes are inherited from its tiger parent and the spots from the lion parent. Ligers are usually orangish/golden in color. However, there have been white tigers bred with lions to produce a very light golden coat on the offspring.If the hybrid offspring is a male, it will have a leonine mane,facial ruff of a tiger but it will not be as large and defined as a normal lion's mane.Males and females have spotted bellies an striped backs.male hybrids are usually infertile Some male ligers have more mane development than others and some are almost mane-less,The liger gets most of its strength and size from both of its parents.
On their hind legs, ligers stand approximately 12 feet tall. At most, ligers may weigh up to 1,000 pounds.Their highest weight ever recorded is 1600 pounds.Other cat species like tigers and lions are almost half or less than the weights of the ligers. A tiger is capable of reaching 600 pounds of maximum weight. A lion reaches the maximum weight of 500 pounds normally. This makes liger the biggest cat on earth.They are capable of eating more than 100 pounds of meat. However, the keepers and handlers do not want to make the ligers fat. Usually they give the ligers around 30 pounds of meat in one day.On the other hand lions and tigers consume about 9 to 12 pounds of meat in one day not more than that.Ligers make the sound of both a lion and a tiger, although their roar tends to sound more like a lion's roar.A liger is capable of achieving a maximum speed of 50 - 60 miles per hour.The exact numbers of ligers are near to 100. The lifespan of ligers, as well as other hybrid animals, is shorter than a normal species. The animals seem prone to cancers and other illnesses.

The name tigon is a portmanteau name which is a blend of the two names, in this case, tiger and lion, into a new word with a blended meaning. This name is inserted at the species or subspecies level of binomial nomenclature for the cross between a male tiger panthera tigris and female lion panthera leo.

The origin of the name seems to date back to the 1920s. As you can see, the tigon is a blend of the physical characteristics of the mother lion and the father tiger. Male Siberian tigers can weigh 400 - 600 lbs with a length of 8 - 11 ft., whereas the smaller Sumatran tiger weighs in at 170 - 350 lb. and a length of 6 - 8 ft. The African lioness ranges from 250 - 350 lbs. and are 4 - 6.5 ft. long. Historically, the Asiatic lion was known to be bigger than the African lions, at 300 - 450lb. and 6 - 9 ft. in length.

Photo Above Noelle She was born on Christmas morn and named Noelle. Not the least of the miracles of her birth was her weight—1 pound, 8 ounces—considering that her father was a 600-pound Siberian tiger and her mother a 450-pound African lioness. She Was Born In 1978.

The tigon's genome includes genetic components of both parents,thus, they can exhibit visible characteristics from 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 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 because they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents, but they do not exhibit any kind of dwarfism or miniaturization; they often weigh around 180 kilograms (400 lb).

There is less interest in tigons because they do not reach the same impressive size as the liger. The size and appearance depends on which subspecies are bred together. The smaller size of the tigress compared to the lion means that some or all of the cubs may be stillborn or the cubs may be born prematurely [there isn't enough space in the womb for them to develop any further] and may not survive. Premature birth can lead to health problems in those that survive.

Tigons are sometimes referred to as Tiglons Tigons are very rare; only a few exist in the world, and even those are only held by private owners. This is because it is much more difficult to get the male tiger to mate with the female lion. Tigons look similar to ligers. They have varying stripes and spots. Tigons are also orangish in color. Male offspring may have a mane, but will be very modest. They are able to produce both lion and tiger sounds when they roar. One difference between tigons and ligers is their size. Tigons are not nearly as large as ligers. In fact, tigons are often times smaller than both of their parents. The lifespan of tigons, as well as other hybrid animals, is shorter than a normal species. The animals seem prone to cancers and other illnesses :-(

The TI-Tigon (75% Tiger, 25% Lion)

Nathaniel ( Photo Above ) was the son of a Tigon named Noelle who presided at the Shambala Preserve (Roar Foundation). Believing all hybrids to be sterile, Noelle was housed with a male Tiger named Anton. The pair regularly mated and Noelle fell pregnant. Nathaniel was born on the 16th September 1983.

It was interesting to note that although Noelle was capable of making both lion and tiger sounds, she only conversed with Nathaniel in tiger vocabulary.Nathaniel was ¾ tiger, which meant he lacked any mane and his stripes were more prominent than his mother’s. Nathaniel could only make tiger sounds, and having a Siberian Tiger as a father he grew to a large size.Because Of Health Issues Nathaniel died of cancer at around the age of 9, his mother died of the same illness soon after. It is believed their cross gene history may have played a part in their illnesses.

Female tigons and ligers have often proved to be fertile and can mate with a lion, tiger or in theory with another species such as leopard or jaguar. Tigons and ligers have been mated together to produce ti-ligers (tig-ligers). Tigers and tigons have been mated to produce ti-tigons. Ti-ligers and ti-tigons are more tigerlike (75% tiger). Ti-tigons resemble golden tigers but with less contrast in their markings.