Pumapard
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The Pumapard is a hybrid of male puma and female leopard. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Karl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid has been reported by Helmut Hemmer. These hybrids had puma-like long tails and sandy or tawny coats with chestnut leopard-like markings and puma-like cheek markings. Another was described as resembling a little grey puma with large brown rosettes.
Pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism and grow to only half the size of the parents. They have a puma-like long body, but short legs.
One is preserved in the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum at Tring, England and clearly shows the tendency to dwarfism.
Hagenbeck apparently bred these hybrids at the suggestion of an unidentified menagerie owner, however, the hybrids were considered dull and uninteresting. Modern geneticists find them interesting because leopards and pumas were not considered to be closely enough related to produce offspring. It is believed that no further pumapards have been bred since then.
A female puma has also been successfully hybridised with a male ocelot although the hybrids died due to lack of maternal care. In spite of the size difference, several sets of puma-ocelot hybrids were born to the same parents who shared an enclosure in a private collection. A subsequent female ocelot-puma cub born to the pair apparently survived and is shown at L'Ocelot-Puma
[edit] See also
- Felid hybrids - Ocelot/Puma and other small cat hybrids
- Panthera hybrids - hybrids between lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars
