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A leopon is a hybrid offspring of a male leopard and a female lion. The first documented leopon was bred in India in 1859. Leopons have physical characteristics of both parents, with a head shape similar to a lion's but a spotted coat like a leopard's. They are larger than leopards and have brown spots instead of black. Leopons have only been bred in captivity and are unlikely to occur naturally in the wild.

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99 views2 pages

Leopon: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

A leopon is a hybrid offspring of a male leopard and a female lion. The first documented leopon was bred in India in 1859. Leopons have physical characteristics of both parents, with a head shape similar to a lion's but a spotted coat like a leopard's. They are larger than leopards and have brown spots instead of black. Leopons have only been bred in captivity and are unlikely to occur naturally in the wild.

Uploaded by

Ralph Mikee Mendezabal
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Leopon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Leopon

A group of taxidermied leopons

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Suborder: Feliformia

Family: Felidae

Subfamily: Pantherinae

Genus: Panthera

Species: P. pardus♂ × P.


leo♀

A leopon /ˈlɛpən/ (portmanteau of leopard and lion) is the hybrid offspring of a


male leopard and a female lion. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion
while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. These hybrids are
produced in captivity and are unlikely to occur in the wild. [1][2][3]
Contents

 1Description
 2See also
 3References
 4External links

Description[edit]
The first documented leopon was bred at Kolhapur, India, in 1859. Its skin was
sent to Reginald Innes Pocock by Walter Samuel Millard, the Secretary of
the Bombay Natural History Society. It was a cross between a large leopard and
a lioness. Two cubs were born, one of which died aged 2.5 months, and the
other was still living when Pocock described it in 1912. Pocock wrote that it was
spotted like a leopard, but that the spots on its sides were smaller and closer set
than those of an Indian leopard and were brown and indistinct, like the fading
spots of a juvenile lion. The spots on the head, spine, belly and legs were black
and distinct. The tail was spotted on the topside and striped underneath and had
a blackish tip with longer hairs. The underside was dirty white, the ears were
fawn and had a broad black bar, but did not have the white spot found in
leopards. Pocock wrote that the closest he had previously seen to this type of
hybrid was the lijagulep (or Congolese spotted lion) bred in Chicago.
Based on the data from the Japanese cats (at the Nishinomiya City Zoo),
leopons are larger than leopards and combine features from the leopard and
lioness. They have brown, rather than black, spots and tufted tails. They will
climb like leopards and seem to enjoy water, also like the leopard. Male leopons
may have sparse manes about 20 cm long.

See also[edit]

 Marozi
 Liard
 Pumapard
 Congolese spotted lion
 Panthera hybrid

References[edit]

1. ^ "HYBRIDS BETWEEN LEOPARDS AND LIONS". Retrieved 16 September 2014.


2. ^ "Animal Hybrids: Ligers and Tigons and Pizzly Bears, Oh My!". Smithsonian Magazine.
Retrieved 2021-09-08.
3. ^ "Cat Experts: Ligers and Other Designer Hybrids Pointless and Unethical". National
Geographic | Adventure. 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2021-09-08.

 R I Pocock: (letter), "The Field", 2 November 1912.


 P L Florio: "Birth of a Lion x Leopard Hybrid in Italy", International-Zoo-News, 1983;
30(2): 4-6
 Hiroyuki Doi & Barbara Reynolds, "The Story of Leopons", GP Putnams, 1967
 Hahn, Emily, "Animal Gardens", Doubleday, 1967

External links

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