Hybridisation in Big Cats

[pendraig_milnerae]

Of the five ‘true’ big cats (members of the genus Panthera), three of which are of course divided into subspecies, however given the history of their taxonomy there has been a great deal of hybridisation among captive populations of lions, tigers and leopards. However, there are still many purebred subspecies in many institutions. The issue is that pretty much all zoos will display their cats as a specific subspecies, but as previously mentioned there are a huge number that aren’t entirely, for example the Barbary Lion, where the actual subspecies (or technically population given they share a subspecies, Panthera leo leo with Asiatic and West African Lions) is extinct and these individuals just contain higher amounts of specific DNA or decent from these individuals while technically being hybrids.
My question was if it is clear where these purebred and hybrid animals are kept and what the current hybrid situation in big cats is, as even Zootierliste doesn’t seem to be entirely sure or clear what the case is.

 

[Zoofan15]

Of the five ‘true’ big cats (members of the genus Panthera), three of which are of course divided into subspecies, however given the history of their taxonomy there has been a great deal of hybridisation among captive populations of lions, tigers and leopards. However, there are still many purebred subspecies in many institutions. The issue is that pretty much all zoos will display their cats as a specific subspecies, but as previously mentioned there are a huge number that aren’t entirely, for example the Barbary Lion, where the actual subspecies (or technically population given they share a subspecies, Panthera leo leo with Asiatic and West African Lions) is extinct and these individuals just contain higher amounts of specific DNA or decent from these individuals while technically being hybrids.
My question was if it is clear where these purebred and hybrid animals are kept and what the current hybrid situation in big cats is, as even Zootierliste doesn’t seem to be entirely sure or clear what the case is.

There’s European breeding programmes for Amur, Sri Lankan and Persian leopards. All zoos participating in the breeding programme for these three subspecies hold purebreds.

Facilities holding leopards that aren’t part of a European breeding programme would be mostly (if not all) hybrids - with the exception of a handful of facilities holding purebred Javan leopards.

Historically, Australasia’s generic leopards descended from Indian and Indochinese leopards; overseas I’d imagine these subspecies (as well as African) were the most influential.