Video: Meet Kiara, the world's first liliger

Novosibirsk - Kiara is a liliger cub - daughter of an African lion with a mother who is half tiger/half lion (liger) - born in late August in a zoo in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia.

Looking rather like a lion cub, but with tiger stripes on her head, Kiara is completely cute. Initially Kiara had to be taken away from her mother, a liger named Zita, as she did not have sufficient milk to feed her. The cub was quickly adopted by a household cat, and despite early problems, Kiara has been deemed healthy and zoo specialists say she is starting to “grow and develop.”

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Mother, Zita the liger

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According to Roza Solovyova, the head of the zoo’s cat section who is caring for her, Kiara will probably have more tiger's features than lion's. “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,” Solovyova told Reuters. Scientists are already wondering if Kiara will be able to reproduce when she is grown up. Apparently most hybrid species are unable to reproduce, but according to a Novosibirsk zoo specialist, female ligers are able to give birth, while males are sterile. Zoo visitors should be able to visit Kiara in October.