Lijagulep
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A Congolese Spotted Lion or more correctly lijagulep is the hybrid of a female leopard/jaguar cross (a jagulep or lepjag) with a male lion. Several lijaguleps have been bred, but only one appears to have been exhibited as a Congolese Spotted Lion. It was most likely given that name by a showman because the public were more interested in exotic captured animals than in captive-bred hybrids.
Three jaguar/leopardess hybrids were bred at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, USA. These were sold to a traveling menagerie and displayed at London Zoo and White City (London). The female jaguleps had refused to mate with a leopard, but one female was mated to a lion and produced several litters. One of the offspring was exhibited in London in 1908 and was claimed to be a type of lion. It was the size of a lioness and had brown rosettes or spots. It is not noted whether the other lijagulep cubs survived to adulthood.
The male lijagulep hybrid was killed by a lion while on display in Glasgow. The lion apparently broke down the partition between the animals' cages and "made short work of its opponent" (Pocock, 2nd Nov 1912, "The Field"). However, the skin of the killed lijagulep went on sale in London shortly after the alleged tragedy and there was no sign of a tear or scratch on it. A further account of these animals was reported in "The Field" during 1908 along with an illustration.
Other Lion and Leopard Hybrids
Lions have been hybridized with several big cat species:- with leopards to produce leopons and lipards
- with tigers to produce ligers and tigons
- with jaguars to produce jaglions
A mounted lion/jaguar hybrid is displayed at the Rothschild Museum in Tring, England. This is the closest we have to an impression of how the Congolese Spotted Lion may have looked when alive.
Leopards have been hybridized with lions and also with jaguars to produce jaguleps (also known as jagleops or, if the leopard is the father, leguars or lepjags) and with pumas to produce pumapards.
The jaguar has been crossed with the leopard and also with the lion. There are anecdotal accounts of crosses between jaguars and pumas.
Fertility and Breeding
In general, male big cat hybrids are sterile while female big cat hybrids are fertile and may be bred back to one of the parental species or to another big cat species, as was the case with the Congolese Spotted Lion (a 3-species complex hybrid).In general, hybrids are no longer bred by zoos as the current emphasis is on conservation of pure species. The only hybrid big cats commonly and deliberately bred in recent times are ligers. It is unlikely that further lijaguleps will be bred.
References
- The Field (letters): April 18th 1908, April 25th 1908, May 9th 1908.
- R. I. Pocock: (letter), The Field, 2nd November 1912.
- CAW Guggisberg (1975) Wild Cats Of The World. Taplinger Pub Co. ISBN 0-8008-8324-1
- Helmut Hemmer: Report on a Hybrid Between Lion x Jaguar x Leopard - Panthera leo x Panthera onca x Panthera pardus (Saeugetierkundliche-Mitteilungen, 1968; 16(2): 179-182)
- Dr. Karl P N Shuker (1989) Mystery Cats of the World. Robert Hale: London. ISBN 0-7090-3706-6 page 173.
External links
- [Hybrid Big Cats].
- [Detailed information on hybridisation in big cats. Includes tigons, ligers, leopons and others.]
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