China lioness gives birth to rare Tigon Cubs (Video)

This raw video just released the Associated Press shows a tigon baby - dad is a male tiger and a lioness mother is - running with his brother purebred lion.

According to China Daily, the lioness gave birth to three cubs at the Safari Park of Changzhou Yancheng, December 26, but the tigon twin died shortly after birth. Tigons usually have a lion's head and body of a tiger.

Tian Xiuhua, director of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, told the newspaper that tigons have a survival rate much lower than ligers (a hybrid produced by a male lion and female tiger) because "it is more dangerous for a lioness to give birth than it is for a tigress and the cubs have genetic defects. "