World’s First Liliger Born At Siberian Zoo [Video]
From the archive: published Sep 18, 2012, 14 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Lions and tigers and liligers, oh my!
The world’s first liliger has been born at the Novosibirsk Zoo in Siberia.
ABC reports that the cat, named Kiara, is a mix between a lion and a liger. A liger, of course, is a mix between a lion and a tiger. Which makes Kiara part lion, part tiger, and since she’s being raised by the zoo’s resident house cat, part kitty as well.
Sky News reports that Kiara’s mother, Zita the liger, wasn’t able to provide milk for the kitten so a domestic cat at the zoo stepped in to nurse the baby liliger.
Roza Solovyova, the head of the zoo’s feline population, said:
“This cub has just started growing and developing, her character has not even formed yet. But I’m confident she will be a calm, confident, strong animal.”
The zoo believes that Kiara is the only liliger in the world. The cub was born this August but has been kept in quarantine. The zoo expects Kiara to make her public debut this October.
Here’s a video of the world’s first liliger.