According to the Associated Press, a lioness in China has given birth to two lion-tiger crossbreeds and one purebred lion in the same litter, marking a world first. Somewhere out there, Napoleon Dynamite is applying chapstick (because his lips hurt real bad!) and shedding a tear of joy. More details and video of the liger cubs below.
(HP) – This video clip shot in Changzhou, China, includes footage of the cubs playing and eating, along with shots of the mother lionness walking alongside a male tiger, presumed to be the father.
PBS explains how the so-called “tigons” and “ligers” are produced through interspecies breeding:
Although they rarely meet in the wild, lions and tigers are still so closely related that they are able to interbreed, and in captivity they occasionally do. But successful interbreeding is the key, and the hybrid offspring are usually sterile and short-lived.
While the population of African lions is said to be shrinking, Asian lions are even more rare, qualifying as an endangered species. Meanwhile, all sub-species of tigers are considered critically endangered.
