The heaviest Liger ACTUALLY measured by Guinness (2014)

[peter]

JOHNNY

a - Source

The photographs I posted ago are from 'Die Hoge Schule der Raubtierdressur' (Hans-Jürgen and Rosemarie Tiede, Freizeit News Verlag, Kaufbeuren, Germany, 1997, 448 pages). Here's the cover:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The photograph on the cover was made in 1989 in Frauenfeld (Switzerland) by Dieter Berke (Aadorf, Switzerland). He was one of the best. The trainer is Elvira Wegmann and the leopard is 'Jana'. 

The book is based on information the Tiedes found in professional magazins (including circus magazins) from all over the world. All photographs are from specialists. Hans-Jürgen and Rosemarie also interviewed many trainers and directors of circuses. 

Josip Marcan was interviewed in 1965 and 1993. Hans-Jürgen considered him a friend. The part on Josip Marcan (pp. 221-227) is loaded with information. Tiede, who has contacts all over the world and had been a trainer himself, knew his business.   

b - Josip Marcan 

Josip Marcan was born in Grabovnica (Kroatia) in 1938. In his day, those interested in working with (exotic) animals were able to educate themselves in 'Dressurschulen'. There was one in Valkenburg (the Netherlands). I interviewed the long-time Director Erich ('Klant') Hagenbeck quite some years ago.

Anyhow. Marcan graduated at the Zagreb 'Dressurschule' and then moved to Moscow (Russia). After graduating, he worked in zoos in Germany. Back then, zoos, like circuses, often offered shows with medium-sized big cats. Lions and tigers were out, because they could be seen in the circuses. It was the famous Prof. Dr. Bernhard Grzimek who adviced Marcan to start with pumas and leopards. 

In 1967, Marcan moved to Florida (USA). Over there, he was offered the opportunity to work with lions and tigers. In the years that followed, he quickly gained a reputation. Marcan worked in most countries in South and Central America. In the late eighties and early nineties of the previous century, he worked for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus.

In the eighties, he started breeding. The cats he bred (white tigers, Ligers, Tigons, Li-Ti's, Ti-Li's and Golden Tabbies) were much in demand. Siegfried & Roy, for example, used some of his white tigers. 

As he had intimate knowledge of all cats he bred, one has to assume he knew about the differences between Ligers, Tigons, Ti-Li's and Li-Ti's. Same for Hans-Jürgen and Rosemarie Tiede. For this reason, it's likely the information in their book is correct.

c - Photographs

Here's a few photographs from the book. I left the liner notes on purpose.

This is a Liger (cross between a male lion and a tigress) in 1987:

*This image is copyright of its original author

 
This is a Ti-Li (1992). As far as I know, a Ti-Li is a cross between a Tigon and a Liger, but others use very different definitions:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Same Ti-Li (1992, Stuttgart, Germany):

*This image is copyright of its original author

c - Conclusion

The cat in both pictures you (re)posted is not a Li-Ti or a Tigon, but a Ti-Li, a cross between a Tigon (male tiger and lioness) and a Liger (male lion and tigress). At least, that's what they told me.

The confusion on Tigons, Ligers, Ti-Li's, Li-Ti's and everything else produced in this department is a result of (a lack of) definitions. If you really want to get to the core of it, you've no option but to contact those in the know.  

V. Mazak ('Der Tiger', third edition, 1983, pp. 204-212) wrote a bit about crosses in his book, but it could be his information is outdated. Same for what I know. Don't hold it against me. I'm not that interested in experiments with captive big cats. All clear? Reply