that's really interesting - I find a leopard X puma somewhat more surprising than a lion X jaguar (or any other Big Cat hybrid). It looks very young. Any idea where this one was bred?
Interesting question; puma x leopard is obviously a rare hybrid. “Living Animals of the World” (Editor C. L. Cornish; no date but early 1900s) depicts a photograph of a living leopard x puma hybrid credited to Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg. The caption states that this animal is now dead and may be seen at the Tring Museum. Both “Cats of the World” (Armand Dennis; 1964) and “Mammalian Hybrids” (Annie P. Gray; 1975) record that Carl Hagenbeck bred a leopard x puma hybrid in Hamburg around 1900 which was successfully reared by a fox terrier bitch. However, in Carl Hagenbeck’s autobiography “Beasts and Men” (English translation, 1909) he writes:- A cross between a panther and a puma was undertaken, at my suggestion, at a small English menagerie. A number of young ones were born, but they all died except one, and there was nothing very noteworthy about the survivor. Frustratingly, Hagenbeck doesn’t provide the name of the zoo where the hybrid was born although possibly the original German version provides more details. Assuming the information other authors provide about the Hamburg born hybrid is true, it does seem astonishing that Hagenbeck does not mention this.
I just happened across this photo again, and thought I'd google puma hybrids: the first link that came up was Wikipedia (as always), which provides more information: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapard]Pumapard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Thanks very much for the additional information, Chlidonias; extremely interesting. It is intriguing that the Wikipedia article states Hagenbeck bred puma x leopard hybrids at the “suggestion of a menagerie owner in Britain” while in Hagenbeck’s autobiography he writes that they were born “at my suggestion at a small English menagerie”. (Lord Rothschild wouldn’t normally be described as a “menagerie owner” although, in addition to his famous Ting Zoological Museum, he did keep some live animals at Tring Park – cassowaries were his favourite.) As I mentioned in my earlier response, it does seem strange that Hagenbeck’s autobiography made no mention of leopard x puma hybrids born in Hamburg. It would be interesting to read what the original German edition of Hagenbeck’s autobiography states on the subject (instead of the abridged English translation).
See, this surprises me a lot less than Puma x Panthera hybrids, as phylogenetically Puma and Leopardus are relatively close. If memory serves correctly, the current genetic research suggests the following feline family tree. | | |{ Panthera, Neofelis | |{ Pardofelis | |{ Caracal, Leptailurus | |{ Leopardus | |{ Lynx | |{ Puma, Acinonyx | |{ Felis | |{ Prionailurus, Otocolobus It may be noted in the above tree that Profelis and Caracal are classed as congeneric.
Not to wander too far off topic, but Tim or anyone else, have you ever seen "Motty" the Asian-African elephant hybrid? I've read that he is in one of the UK natural history museums.
He is "offshow" in a holding warehouse at the present time; however one member of zoochat saw and photographed him in the brief time he was alive! http://www.zoochat.com/42/hybrid-elephant-calf-chester-zoo-16-a-35693/
He was on display at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, where I saw him several times. Unfortunately he has been off exhibit for many years.
sure, genetically, but there's quite a size difference. Also I hadn't heard of that hybrid before, so it is automatically more interesting than one I had heard of previously
