Lion-Tiger Hybrid

Abstract

SOME of the readers of NATURE who have the opportunity of visiting the exhibition at Earl's Court may be interested to know that one of the members of the “Happy Family” now on show there is evidently a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. The animal appears to be about two years old. By artificial light the ground colour closely resembles that of a lion, being tawny rather than reddish yellow; but the tiger-stripes, though faint, are quite visible, especially on the tail. Such stripes might perhaps be mistaken for unusually strong cub-markings of the lion retained for an unusual length of time. But apart from the stripes, the tiger-strain comes out strongly in the blackness of the corners of the mouth, the hairs of the lips in this place being jet black in the tiger, white in the lion.