China's First Tiger-lion Cub Born in Nanjing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 28, 2002

China's First Tiger-lion Cub Born in Nanjing

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A lioness has given birth to China's first tiger-lion hybrid cub -- which is now being suckled by a dog.

The cub was born with a lion body and tiger coloring after 112 days of pregnancy at Hongshan Zoo in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

However the lioness, Tiantian, lacked maternal experience and posed wrongly to suckle the cub, before leaving her hungry offspring alone about eight hours after its birth.

A female black dog was introduced to the cub and now feeds the tiger-lion once every two hours, occasionally stopping to groom her adopted "puppy".

The cub, which weighed 1.1 kilograms at birth -- similar to other big cat cubs -- is in good condition and now weighs 1.2 kilograms.

Due to space shortages, lions and tigers are raised together for about three years in the zoo, including Tiantian, another lion and five tigers.

Though the two species live peacefully and generally show no signs of intimacy, lioness Tiantian and tiger Tongtong mated this May.

Experts said lion-tiger cubs refer to those born by lion father and tiger mother, and tiger-lion cubs refer to those with tiger father and lion mother. However this creates differences in their body shapes and appearances.

It is uncertain whether the tiger-lion can survive and it is being kept under observation, experts said.

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