Jaglion – a lion, jaguar hybrid

The existence of the jaglion is, for me, an example of human arrogance and self-indulgence. This exotic big cat hybrid should not exist. If you watch the video (it cannot be embedded on this page) you will hear a zookeeper speaking inanely to a captive jaglion. The whole thing depresses me personally. The enclosure looks ridiculously small and uncomfortable. There’s nothing pleasant about it but people are fascinated with exotic cats and the jaglion is certainly that being a lion/jaguar hybrid.

Update — Below the large picture is another, also supposedly Jahzara. I have added this later. This picture is more authentic in my view. The cat looks more like an lion/jaguar hybrid looking at the face and the markings are different. This is a different cat. This is the genuine article in my opinion.

The jaglion is a cross breed of a male jaguar and a female lion. I confess to say that until today I had not heard of them perhaps partly because I dislike this sort of breeding; creating exotic wild cats to titillate the viewing public.

They are very rare and there are two, perhaps the only two in the world in Ontario at Canada’s Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary (update: there may be more than two but not many more).

Their names are Jahzara and Tsunami. The picture on this page of Jahzara shows us that she is a melanistic Jaguar hybrid. I don’t know but I presume that the male Jaguar father was melanistic and the female lion was an ordinary coloured lion. His appearance is of a jaguar. I don’t see any lion in him as it happens.

Sarah Hartwell is able to add some details. She mentions the two jaglions at Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. They were born on April 9, 2006. They were the result of an accidental mating which means they were not deliberately bred although the parents were not neutered and they lived together.

We are told from my source (but I have now have doubts) that the cat that you see in the picture on this page is the result of a mating between a black male Jaguar, Diablo (as I had guessed) and a lioness whose name was/is Lola. The couple were inseparable because they had been hand-raised together. When separated they became anxious and depressed.

Sarah tells us that female big cat hybrids are frequently fertile. In which case, Jahzara, could in theory be bred back to purebred lions to introduce the gene for melanism (a gene that makes the coat become black or very dark) into the lion species.

Associated: Hybrid cats.

Why not read a blog post on new cat breeds to see some unique domestic cats!