Thursday, October 8, 2009

What species of cubs are these?

I have already emailed Simon with my response, so let's hear our readers thoughts.

Courtesy of Simon De Winter

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not a species. Ligers.

Wade G. Burck said...

Ligers or tiglons, which is what I told Simon. He mentioned they looked more "tiger" then "lion"
Wade

Rob said...

Tigon??

Wade G. Burck said...

Rob,
How are you doing friend. I am sorry I forgot to mention you in the list of folks eager to know as much about animal training as possible, on the picture of the two fellow's from Russia.
Wade

Anonymous said...

They are Tigons.
I saw two very young cubs was surprised at all the spotting on the face and then the stripes on their arms.
There's a man north of Dallas that raises them.
-B

Wade G. Burck said...

From a private email as to what the babies are:

"There were two tigons and one had leg problems. Seemed more 'tiger like' than lion; if you can say that kind of thing w/out someone laughing at you! They phuffed and behavied like 6-8 week old tigers, no much different than a lion cub I suppose but never heard a lion phuff....LOL!"

This comment came with the picture from Simon, who is a young circus/animal fan from Antwerp Belgium and has a fine blog www.circusdays.be :
"I should say they are lions with very dark babyspots but on the other hand they re so orange. The structure of their skull reminds me more from a tiger so I'm confused :)"

That is very observant of Simon to note that the structure of the skill was more "tiger like", and I for one am thrilled that folks are becoming very aware and educating themselves as to what they are seeing in the performing ring and out. Tents, trucks, equipment are fine to model and photograph. Even better for historical purposes miniature cages and stables. That there is now time spent really looking at the animals as well as the structure that houses them is a wonderful dawning of a new age.
Wade

Anonymous said...

Mr. Burck will you please contact me. I would like to speak with you in regards to a matter I think you would be able to help me with. dragonsdreaming@yahoo.com
Thank you

Annoni-mouse said...

Annoni-mouse's guess:

Tiger/leopard or tiger/jaguar

Rob said...

Hello Wade,
You are forgiven.For me it was also the color and appearence to believe them to be tigons.By the way ,I am doing fine as I hope you are doing to.

Rob

Wade G. Burck said...

Rob,
Forgiven for what? I knew what they were and responded back to Simon privately, and said I would post it on the blog for other folks. Simon noted the "tiger looking skull" and the "orangish" color as did I, normally indicating a tiglon(tiger crossed with a lioness", often males not getting a full mane at maturity, but retaining the orange color. A liger(lion crossed with a tigress, is often times a more light tawney color and has skull characteristics of the lion.
Wade

Wade G. Burck said...

B,
Those are legs, not arms. The girl holding them has arms. LOL
Wade

Rob said...

Wade,what I meant was about you saying sorry ,for not mentioning my name.Not regarding the tigons.

Rob

Wade G. Burck said...

Rob,
In that case, you are forgiven. LOL Let this be a lesson, President Obama. Two people from two different countries, thousands of miles apart worked it out in a day, and it didn't cost the taxpayers squat, or require a phony beer mug toast.
Wade

Anonymous said...

You got me there...LOL!
-B

Anonymous said...

Wade,
Didn't Josip Marcan had a Tiglon in his act when he was on tour with Flavio Togni's American Circus?
Bjorn

Wade G. Burck said...

Bjorn,
Josip has bred and trained a number of ligers, but I can't vouch for the fact that he had one in the act with Togni.
Wade

Ben Trumble said...

I was at a place the other day in OK that unfortunately reproduces a number of tigons and ligers. I say unfortunately because it's a nice facility with better than average compounds etc. But claiming that crossbreeding is "conservation" is silly.

Wade G. Burck said...

Ben,
That has always been my problem with the circus "mission statement" of saving and breeding endangered species, as a justification.
Wade