Offspring Of Lion-Tiger Cross And Lion Is Unique Liliger

Video Credit: CEN/@safaripark25.TV

Safari park workers in Russia have discovered this big cat thought to have been a liger – the offspring of a male lion with a female tiger – is actually a much rarer liliger- a liger crossed with a lion.

Staff at the Primorsky Safari Park in the Primorsky Krai of Russia’s Far East region had believed Blag was a male liger when it was born on February 27th, 2012, in a mobile mini-zoo from Pyatigorsk city, during the tour of the zoo in the Amur region.

Credit: CEN/@safaripark25.TV
The liger eating

However, they have now discovered that Blag’s mother was actually a ligress name Alena who was three years old at the time.

Therefore, Blag is actually a liliger, a second-generation hybrid from a lion (Panthera leo) and a ligress (Panthera leo crossed with a Panthera tigris).

The first liliger was reportedly born at the Hellabrunn Zoo in 1943, surprising scientists as ligers and tigons – a male tiger crossed with a female lion – had long been thought to be sterile. In September 2012, Russia’s Novosibirsk Zoo announced the birth of a liliger. The cub was named Kiara and was born to an eight-year-old ligeress called Zita and a male African lion, Sam.

Credit: CEN/@safaripark25.TV
The liger eating

On 16th May 2013 the same couple produced three more female liligers: Luna, Sandra, and Eva.

Male tigons and ligers are sterile, but female ligers and tigons can produce cubs.

Blag was born in a mobile zoo but after people complained about its living conditions, it was moved to the safari park, where it has more space.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By:  Ginger Mahotchina, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News


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