This infographic lists the big cat hybrids. These human-made ‘creations’ are frivolous experiments in captivity by, arguably, abusive individuals with nothing better to do. I can’t think of any scientific or conservation benefit in their creation. They are the work of curious individuals participating in self-indulgent experiments. Someone else will have a different viewpoint which I’d welcome in a comment.
Incidentally, people ask if a tiger can mate with a leopard. They can physically mate and it has happened, I guess once again as an experiment in captivity. These things don’t happen in the wild as the leopard avoids the tiger because the tiger is a danger to leopards. The outcome of this selective breeding was unviable foetuses – aborted foetuses, which supports my view that this was an abusive experiment.
I hope that you find the infographic useful. It is free to use under a Creative Commons: ATTRIBUTION-NODERIVS CC BY-ND license. If you do use it let us both thank Sarah Hartwell who is probably the world’s expert of big cat hybrids.
If you click on the infographic, you’ll see it larger if you are using a desktop computer.
You will note that there are no snow leopard hybrids (thank God). I believe that they are protected in captivity and selective breeding from them to create hybrids is forbidden.
Hartwell writes:
“According to nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis, tigers are more closely related to snow leopards than to lions, leopards and jaguars. Lions, leopards and jaguars are more closely related to each other than to tigers.”
Below are some articles on wild cat hybrids.
