Jaglions - Half Jaguar, Half Lion

Jaglions - Half Jaguar, Half Lion
18-04-2008

There is a non-profit, volunteer establishment called Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary an hour north of Toronto, Canada. I'd never heard of the place until today, but they have a small collection of animals. They have almost 100 photos of two jaglions (half jaguar, half lion) on their website, as well as many other shots of their captive wildlife. Are there other jaglions in the world?

Bear Creek Sanctuary - Jaglions


Interesting notice for visitors (when they used to be open to the public)

NOTICE TO GUESTS:

Bear Creek Sanctuary is private property. It is not a forum for protest. The proprietors reserve the right to refuse entry to any person and, in particular, to any member or affiliate of WSPA, PETA, Zoo Check and other similar animal rights organizations. Members or affiliates of those organizations found on these premises without express written permission from Bear Creek Sanctuary will be charged with
trespassing pursuant to the Trespass to Property Act of Ontario.

18-04-2008

I have heard of Jaglions, but I didn't know about these.

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Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

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18-04-2008

I know this was an accident, but they don't breed a lot of hybrids like this do they?
I think they're stunning lol

18-04-2008

i have only read old anecdotal accounts of jaguar/lion hybrids. indeed jaguar/anything hybrids seem particularly rare, i suppose since few people keep jaguars.

its interesting to note that, since lions are spotted as cubs (i assume lions are particularly closely related to leopards/jaguars in general) both cats are almost as well spotted as a regular jaguar. the black/tan individual is particularly striking.

if i was directing a 10,000 AD type film i would definitely give that cat a role...

next time i suggest they desex...

18-04-2008

[quote=patrick;

next time i suggest they desex...[/QUOTE]

I would agree 100% with that

18-04-2008

I'm sure Mauricio Anton, illustrator of The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives, would be very interested in having a look at these jaglions. They resemble some of the prehistoric cats in his work...

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Anton's drawings are stunning.

Amazon.com: The Big Cats and Their Fossil...

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Charles Alexander

18-04-2008

there's more here:

Mauricio Antón Paleontology Prehistoric Anthropology Anthropologist Illustrator Illustrations Design Designer Infógrafo InfografÃÂ*as Museums Modeled 3D

its very good - but his work as a hint of flatness to it i'm not so fond of - some more than others - and some scenes look lumped together with little relationship between its subjects. there a formality to some of the poses i think that puts me off a bit...but teh cats look quite good - i'll be sure to look up some of those titles.

on a side note i see he's tackled a bit of early hominid depictions.

only one artist has ever put believability in a non modern hominid to me and nobody has ever come close to him... this john gurche paints for national geographic

John Gurche

(why is it all artists have really lame 16-bit colour websites!)

18-04-2008

Ah I see you are quite the seasoned critic.

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Charles Alexander

18-04-2008

Yeah, I remember these, if I remember correctly it was an accident based on keeper inexperience...

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Lotto: An extra tax for people who are bad at math...

18-04-2008

ahhh you know.. i dabble

18-04-2008

I remember seeing a Jagupard in Erfurt long ago-interesting creature, yet the jaglion sounds like being even more so...
HYBRID AND MUTANT ANIMALS

19-04-2008

@Sun Wukong: the website that you posted was quite informative. I particularly liked the photos of the puma/ocelot and lion/leopard hybrids.

19-04-2008

I haven't come across this cross before. This pair are very striking, more so as the female is melanistic so the Jaguar(male) parent is either black or he carries the melanistic gene. Its also interesting that as they say, the male looks facially more lion -like, whereas the female looks more Jaguar -like, though that may be due to her colour. I hope these two won't be allowed to breed together just in case they turned out to be fertile...

There used to be a 'Leopon' (Leopard x Lion) in a zoo somewhere in Japan and I believe it might actually have had one parent which was already itself a 'hybrid' between these two.

Many years ago I saw an unusually partial-melanistic Jaguar in a zoo in Europe- possibly Hanover? It was spotted but with a black 'mantle' over the back and hind quarters. However, it was still a 'pure' Jaguar.

19-04-2008

@snowleopard: You're welcome. Back in the days of Carl Hagenbeck, hybridisation among the big cats & bears, but also other species (f.e. pheasants, deer, wild bovidae etc.) was more or less selectively aspired. Nowadays, hybrids in zoos are most likely mere "accidents", like in the case of these jaglions-even though I suspect that in some cases, especially in regard to huge ligers used for the show business, crossbreeding big cats is deliberately aimed for.

19-04-2008

Talk about Walking With Prehistoric Beasts. Just look at the size of this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cowCS_OoDSY

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Charles Alexander