A zoo keeper in a privately-owned zoo in Taiwan has successfully crossbred a male lion with a tigress, resulting to liger cubs.

The parents are an African lion named Simba and a Bengal tigress named Beauty. The “mom and dad” have been living in the same cage since they were small and began mating about three years ago.

Zoo keeper Huang Kuo-nan said, “Usually when a lion and a tiger are kept together, they will for sure attack each other to death, but these two have been spending time together since they were small.”

Once they reach adulthood, ligers can weigh up to 992 pounds. Three liger cubs were born on Sunday, but only two of them survived.

“One of them seemed to have hypothermia, so I quickly dried it up, and kept it warm with a blow dryer,” Huang said.

Unfortunately, crossbreeding of rare protected animals is prohibited in Taiwan. The zoo and Huang are under investigation and could be fined of up to USD 1,600 (50,000 Taiwan dollars).

Click here to view a video clip of the liger cubs.

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