Lion Leopard Hybrid Animal Leopon, Photograph: Fact Check

Story:

Lion Leopard Hybrid Animal

Other Versions

1. Half Leopard, Half Lion – The Leopon.

2. The Leopon is a cross between a leopard and a lion.

Fact Check:

A strange picture surfacing online often is shown as a Cross-breed animal of Lion and Leopard called Leopon. Rather unusual appearance gives an impression that the picture of the strange animal could be a product of Photoshop. However, it indeed shows a real Leopon, the cross between a Leopard and a Lion.

Lion Leopard Hybrid Leopon

What you see in the picture is in fact the hybrid animal Leopon produced by cross mating of a Lioness and a male Leopard. Conversely, the reciprocal cross between a male Lion and Leopardess produces the mixed-breed animal known as Lipard or Liard (“reverse leopon”). For instance, you can see some pictures of Leopons and Lipard below.

Leopons have stout lion-like bodies, and spots and shorter legs like leopard. In past decades, many leopard-lion mixed-breeds are produced in captivity, in zoos of Japan, India, Germany and Italy. Significantly, a cross breeding took place in Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City of Japan, in late fifties and early sixties. A lioness named Sonoko and her Leopard mate Kaneo, both born in 1955, were raised together. As a result, they produced two hybrid Leopons in 1959 and three more in 1962. On the negative side, the hybrids proved to be sterile, and the last one died in 1985.

Coming to the story in question again, no, the picture is not photoshopped – it does indeed show the Lion Leopard hybrid animal Leopon.

Hoax or Fact:

Fact.

References:

Hybrids between Leopards and Lions