Lion-Tiger Hybrids 201 
may attain 450 and even 500lbs. But the hybrid in question, weighing as it does no 
less than 467lbs., is certainly the superior of most well-grown lions, whether wild-bred 
or born in a menagerie. 
This animal shows faint stripmg and mottling, and, in its characteristics, exhibits 
strong traces of both its parents. It has a somewhat lion-like head, and the tail is 
more like that of a lion than of a tiger. On the other hand, it has little or no trace 
of mane. It is a huge and very powerful beast, but, like most of Mr. Hagenbeck’s 
feline pets, has been reduced to a state of comparative tameness, taking part in the 
shows given by a keeper, with other felidw, such as lions, tigers, leopards and 
pumas, not to mention dogs and various species of the genus Ursus. 
The next hybrids are a pair born, like the bigger animal, of lion father and tigress 
mother. They are about seventeen months old, having been born on the 28th April, 1901. 
They show far more of the tiger striping than their elder relative, and are altogether 
A MALE LION-TIGER OF A MALE LION AND TIGRESS. 
Born llth May, 1897. Height, 3 ft. 10in.; length, 10 ft. 2 in. 
much more tiger-hike im appearance. At the age of twelve or thirteen months—when 
photographed—they were already as big as most full-grown lions and tigers, and they 
promise to develop mto enormous specimens of the great cat family. They are, apparently, 
although reduced to a certain state of tameness, none too sweet tempered, judging from 
their photographs. The small photograph supplied by Mr. Hagenbeck shows another pair 
of hybrid cubs—mere babies, born in April of the present year and photographed a few 
weeks later. They lhe with their foster-mother, a fox terrier, whose services had to be 
‘called in for the purpose of rearing them. ‘They, too, show strong traces of stripimg; but 
as lion cubs in extreme infancy show a good deal of marking also, chiefly spots and blotches, 
it 1s possible that these stripes may to some extent disappear as they approach maturity. 
These experiments of Mr. Hagenbeck are extremely interesting, but, whether fortunately 
or otherwise, it is almost certain that the breeder of these strange crosses between lon 
