Tigon

A Tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger, however in the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers. Tigons do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviors and habitats.

Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother and stripes from the father. Any mane that a male tigon has may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion's mane and is closer in type to the ruff of a male tiger. Tigons more often than not grow smaller than lions or tigers, due to the fact that they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents. They tend to appear "housecat-like".

The comparative rarity of tigons is attributed to male tigers finding the courtship behavior of a lioness too understated and thus may miss behavioral signals that hint to her willingness to mate. However lionesses actively solicit mating so their current rarity is most likely due to them being less impressive in size than ligers.

Ligers and tigons were long thought to be sterile; male tigons are sterile while the females are generally fertile. A female tigon named Noelle in the Shambala Reserve was housed with a male Siberian tiger in the belief that Noelle was sterile. The pair produced a "ti-tigon". Ti-tigons resemble golden tigers but with less contrast in their markings.