Just because I can and mooncat is such a nice person. ;=3

[lionkingcmsl]

mooncat has described something that she calls a "chelioness"; half lioness and half cheetahess. Now this is something that cannot occur in nature, as the lion is from the Panthera genus and the cheetah is from the Acinonyx genus. Add to the fact that lions and cheetahs just don't get along, lions tend to kill cheetahs, as they see them as competitors, you can see that this offspring could/would never happen.

Besides all that, she has drawn some version of a chelioness and I thought it would be neat to do a 3D version of one, so I did, using the DAZ Millennium "Big Cat" series. ;=3



The skin was done by copying parts of the cheetah's skin and pasting them on to the lioness' skin, forming a new skin called "Chelioness". ;=3
Yes, I know that there shouldn't be such a color break along the back, but I was going for a quick skinning process, and who knows, there might just be such a break in the coloration. A tiger's stripes are not just hair/fur color, the stripes are also on the skin, and even if you shaved a tiger bald, it would still show its stripes very plainly.

The body is a mixture of sizes, as could occur if an offspring could/would happen. The over all body size is 95% of that of the lioness. The legs are pure cheetah, while the hips, abdomen, chest and base of the neck vary from 50% cheetah to 75% cheetah, in no particular order (the lioness is the base figure for the "Big Cat" series). I varied the sizes to get a good flow of body lines and to give the chelioness a sleek look like that of the cheetah, while retaining the powerful look of the lioness.

The top of the neck, head and tail are pure lioness, with tail tuft.

So this was an exercise of fancy for a good friend who puts up with me. ;=3

Question is, are you ready for an animal that is almost as large as a lion and possibly could run in the 60 mph range, with probably more stamina than a cheetah?

Comments

[mooncat.livejournal.com]

Yay me! :)

[the-lizard-rat.livejournal.com]

Two words: Genetic Engineering?

Lizard Rat out.
Winged Reptilian Rodent in Albany NY

[level-head.livejournal.com]

It is not at all clear to me that cheetahs and lions are completely incapable of producing offspring. A number of the big cats do interbreed. Lions and tigers, normally hostile toward each other, have produced a number of offspring in zoos.

The results are interesting -- a genetic "arms race" in lions has no counterpart in tigers; thus, when the lion is the father, the resulting "liger" is the largest cat in the world. (It's often necessary to do a C-section on the mother tiger, in fact.) Ligers, and their very small counterpart tigons (tiger father) are occasionally fertile.

Some zoos and labs have used artificial insemination to try these crossbreeds with some success.

"Genus" is a term applied by humans, but nature tends to be a bit fuzzy about boundaries. The leopard and puma, despite being in different genuses, are known to be able to interbreed. Obviously, the greater the genetic distance, the less chance their is for success.

Also, cheetahs are physically small and lightly built -- even a sucessful crossbreed with a lion would not likely be able to be naturally born. Lion cubs try to outgrow each other in the womb; lion mothers use a growth-suppressant to counteract this. But tiger mothers, and cheetah mothers, have not evolved this trick (as it was not needed), so they are defenseless against the fast-growing crossbreed cubs.

This situation, called "growth displasia", is tough on the mothers.

Ah, here's some info:
http://members.aol.com/jshartwell/hybrid-bigcats2.html

LK, you might tinker with the proportions on the cheetah end of this; the muzzles are unusually shaped for big cats and the legs are very long indeed. I'd expect an adult cheetah to be as tall as an adult lion, despite the massive difference in weight.

===|==============/ Level Head

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

The "pure" cheetah was done using the "Big Cat" morph for the cheetah, but i did "scale" it down to about 75% that of the lioness.

I could play with the settings and see if I could come up with a more cheetah looking face.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

Looking at Mooncat reminded me that cheetahs have long legs. ];-)

Do you have control over limb length?

===|==============/ Level Head

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

To a point yes.

But don't forget that a chelions legs may not be as long to support the heavier body.

[mooncat.livejournal.com]

I'd expect an adult cheetah to be as tall as an adult lion
A larger male cheetah and a smaller lioness might be about the same shoulder height.

Cheetahs range from .65 to .95 meters with males being slightly larger. Male lions average at about 1.2 meters, with females about 1.05 or so. :) (with, of course, variations in both cats and sexes)

[the-lizard-rat.livejournal.com]

Gah. I'd completely forgotten about Ligers and such when I made that earlier comment (thanks, LH :) ).

I'm surprised LK hasn't been barraged by people going "Render me! Render me!" *grin* Then again I don't think any trolls actively read this LJ :P

(It's often necessary to do a C-section on the mother tiger, in fact.) --- you're kidding, right LH? o.O

Lizard Rat out.
Wanting to meet a Liger in Albany NY

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

In a rare hybrid, talk of the "purpose" of a trait doesn't come into play, because natural selection hasn't had much of a chance to affect anything. A chelion might well have an ill-fitting combination of traits. But since horses seem to manage, I don't think it necessarily would be so much of a problem.

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

While it still needs a bit of work it is a wonderful start LK. It could be the limits of the program that has produced some of the problems but considering what you've done in the past I'm sure you'll find some work arounds as well. Now the next challenge is getting one in anthro form. Hmm, Mooncat at the Watering Hole? Oh boy are we ready for this?
*grin*

[mooncat.livejournal.com]

heh. Considering the mayhem my text-based self is known to create at another bar, I'd say The Watering Hole isn't ready, not by a long shot ;).

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

Oh I think you'd be okay so long as a certain saber-tooth didn't show up as well. Of course LK could also have a liger in the bar to make certain nothing too bad happen. I think the biggest threat to The Watering Hole would be if one very old black wolf showed up followed by his cold blooded shadow.

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Ok, the only thing out of that cast that I could do, excluding LK, is, believe it or not, Painless and the Tyrant!

Of course all we would see of the Tyrant would be his foot and lower leg. ;=3

[level-head.livejournal.com]

.65 meters -- 25 inches or so -- seems awfully short for a cheetah.

Oho! Looking around, it seems that no two websites have the same number for cheetah shoulder height. Many use the metric rounded "2 to 3 feet" number you've posted here. Others, like this one, simply say "100 cm". A lot use 80cm.

And most references to lions seem to use "males up to 4 feet" or "males up to 1.2 meters".

Curious, isn't it?

===|==============/ Level Head

[mooncat.livejournal.com]

*nod* Was worried that I'd misplaced a decimal point after posting, but it's true, so many sources give...while not conflicting information, certainly varied information. One of my favourite books on the topic is The Big Cats and their fossil relatives by Alan Turner, and it lists the shoulder height of most every other cat but modern Cheetah. (But it does have a shoulder height for an ancestor, A. pardinensis at ~90cm.)

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

If I recall you said you have wolf and big cats so the ones that seem left out are the foxes and otters(unfortunately). We did have a number of felines and canids when you think about it. Puma/Cougar you've got. You've done both Tiff and Leonard so those are covered. Anyway, I'm enjoying what you're doing so just keep an eye out for the other furs you need.

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

I have the "quads" not the anthros.

They are two different sts of foigures. Then anthors are from Lemurtek's Second Nature Series which includes foxes and wolves, but no big cats save the lion and tiger. He does have a small cat that Little Dragon has done a female cheetah, or as I say cheetahess, skin for that.

The quads are from, as noted earlier, DAZ's Millennium "Big Cat" series. I have no way of jst "cutting and pasting" heads on to bodies to make other anthros.

I do believe that the mustled family is available as quads, but not as anthros.

I am keeping an eyue out for other anthros, but I believe the realistic one will be slow in coming as Lemurtek hasn't done anything in a while. :=/