Tiliger Cubs

A tiliger cub is a hybrid animal that results from the crossbreeding of a male tiger and a female liger (ligress). Therefore; a tiliger cub is a second-generation hybrid animal, as its mother is already a hybrid of male lion and a tigress. Ligers are first generation hybrids of big cats. Like ligers and Liligers, the tiligers are also very rare in the world and only very few of them are alive today. It is very common within many zoos and animal sanctuaries that they keep tigers and ligers together from young age. As a result of that it is very likely that a male tiger and a female liger can mate in captivity when they grow up.

The world's first tiliger who is highlighted and recognized in online media is Radar the tiliger. This tiliger was born in 2008 in Florida. Like all the tiligers Radar also had a male tiger as its father and a female liger as its mother. The information about the whereabouts of the parents of Radar the liger is still not known. He was believed to be rescued from Florida and brought to Tigerworld animal sanctuary, located at Rockwell, in North Carolina, USA. Radar the tiliger is still alive today, as of 2016 and now he is a healthy & happy big cat. Radar lives with a male liger named as Wayne the liger and a male tiger.

A tiliger is different from a liger but it is very close in resemblance with a tiger. In fact, anyone not knowing that it is actually a tiliger will easily consider a tiliger as a tiger. A tiliger has dark black stripes on its skin like a tiger. Ligers on the other hand have dark brown stripes. However; the fur of a Tiliger is rather brownish in color, as compared to a tiger which has an orange fur. But fur and stripes are not a perfect indicator for a tiliger. A golden tabby tiger may also be mistakenly considered as a Tiliger or liger. The best way to recognize a tiliger is through its face as this is where a tiliger is different than a tiger. The facial marking pattern of a tiger has long stripes, whereas; the facial marking pattern of a tiliger has spots. Else as compared to a liger and lion, a tiliger is very much different and it can easily be differentiated.

Recently from 2010 onwards; a lot of zoos in United States and in China has crossbred a male tiger with a female liger to produce a tiliger. The Garold Wayne Zoo also known as G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma, USA has some of these amazing rarest hybrid animals of the world. The G.W. Zoo is also famous for having ligers and liligers as well. Another zoo in China named as Hongshan Forest Zoo also has these rarest tiligers as well. Currently there are hardly around 3 to 4 tiligers in the world which makes them even more rarer than the liligers. Liligers are slightly more in numbers than the tiligers, but both of them are very rare.

Tiligers are big cats and they can be as big as lions and tigers. If we look at Radar the liger, he is even bigger than a tiger in its enclosure but not as bigger as a liger. Similarly, a tiliger at G.W. zoo was also bigger than the tiger in its enclosure as well. Therefore; all of these evidences truly indicate that a tiliger can easily outweigh a male tiger or a lion in terms of its weight. The same is true about their height and length as well. So, we have ligers as the biggest cat in the world and then we have tiligers and liligers which are also bigger than lions and tigers.

The breeding of tiligers can contribute greatly to the knowledge and evolution of big cats. According to Joe Schriebvogel (The man who owns ligers, liligers and tiligers), the purpose of breeding all of these hybrids like ligers, tiligers and liligers is to promote education. He believed that ligers, liligers and tiligers are more powerful, stronger and healthier than the other big cats like lions, tigers and jaguars. People are also very excited to watch such amazing and rare animals, therefore; this can be another reason to add these hybrid animals at their zoos as well. Many big cat experts believe that hybrid animals serve as brand ambassadors for preservation and conservation of the big cats.