First Generation Hybrids

What's this? Your lioness has given birth to a cub that looks a little... odd. Oh? It's a hybrid!

First Generation (FG) Hybrids are where every single hybrid on site, with a few notable exceptions, have originated. First Generation Hybrids are, for the most part, born because, well... your lioness cheated. The actual gameplay mechanics of this are that every breeding, even ones done with other hybrids, have a very, very small chance to produce a First Generation Hybrid!
Regardless of if you have a First Generation Leopon or First Generation Tigon born, they have a few things that are always the same. They will ALWAYS have Very Low Fertility, specifically, 1%. This is because they're hybrids!
They also have a 10% chance to pass their mutation per cub, which makes them some of the most prolific mutation passers on site!
This means in a 3 cub litter, you have a 27.9% chance to get a hybrid from a First Gen, and in a 4 cub litter, this jumps up to around 34.4%! Isn't that exciting?

Each First Generation variation of a Hybrid also has a few unique things about them, so let's get into those, shall we?

First Generation Leopons
First Generation Leopons are the child of your lioness and a male Leopard. Since there's so many Leopards roaming across the Savannah, you have no real way of knowing which Leopard your lioness shacked up with, so a First Generation Leopon's father will always display as "Unknown", even if other cubs in the litter have a defined father.
They'll also always be born with the same appearance at birth, which is pictured below!

Well, she sure looks pretty, but what's her appearance data? Well, here it is!

All First Generation Leopons ever born on site were born looking like this! Some of them have been customized, with fancy bases and RMAs, or new eye colors, or even new manes! But, enough about the customization, let's look at her hybrid exclusive traits:
Kimanjano Base and Mottled Rosette Marking
These leopon-exclusive traits can only be obtained, or bred down from, other leopons. If you have a lion with the Kimanjano base or the Mottled Rosette marking, they were, at some point, related to a leopon. It doesn't matter if their heritage has been wiped, or if it's so far back you can't see it, they, at one point, came from a leopon. Due to this, Mottled Rosette ONLY comes in Slot 6, meaning that if you want it on your lion, it's going to be in Slot 6.

Since Kimanjano and Mottled Rosette are leopon exclusive, leopons have some special interactions with these traits that no other lion has. Isn't that cool?

If a leopon is involved in the breeding in any way, Kimanjano will pass like a normal special base. If not, Kimanjano passes at around half of the rate a normal special base would. Meaning if you want to breed Kimanjano, your best bet is to have some hybrids in your pride, or a whole lot of patience.

For Mottled Rosette, the difference is more apparent. If a leopon female is involved in the breeding, even if she doesn't have Mottled Rosette, it passes like a normal marking. This means that, if both parents have Mottled Rosette, you can pass it down to cubs an astonishing 75% of the time! If no female leopon is involved, then Mottled Rosette passes at around the rate of Tier 4 Rosettes.

First Generation Tigons
First Generation Tigons are the child of your lioness and a tiger. One specific tiger, in fact, our beloved Ashkarn! Unlike with First Generation Leopons, where we don't know who impregnated our lioness, we definitely know Ashkarn is the father of all of the First Generation Tigons. Makes you wonder how many black eyes that guy has gotten for stealing wives, huh?
These guys are all also born with the same appearance at birth, pictured below:

And here's her appearance data:

You may find a First Generation Tigon wandering around that looks different to this, and this is due to the fact they can be customized, just like leopons. And just like leopons, they also have their own exclusive traits:
Mandarin Base and Mottled Stripes Marking
These tigon-exclusive traits can only be obtained, or bred down from, other tigons. This means that if you have a lion with the Mandarin Base or Mottled Stripes Marking, it, at one point, was descended from a tigon, even if its heritage doesn't reflect that! Just like with Mottled Rosette, Mottled Stripes also only comes in one marking slot, which is Slot 8. It cannot, and will never, be found in a marking slot other than Slot 8.

Tigons also have special interactions with Mandarin and Mottled Stripes!

If a tigon parent is involved with the breeding in any way, Mandarin will pass like a normal special base. If not, it passes at around half of the rate any other special base would. Just like with Kimanjano, you'll want to either have a few tigons or a ton of patience to breed this base.

If a female tigon is involved with the breeding, Mottled Stripes will pass just like a normal marking. If not, it passes at around the rate of a Tier 4 Rosette. Due to Mottled Stripes not being as popular as Mottled Rosette, very few people specifically breed for it, but it's definitely got it's own appeal!

Second Generation + Hybrids

Now that you understand how hybrids come to be, what about the hybrids that aren't first generation? Well, that's what this is about!

This is a general section of the guide as there is no MECHANICAL difference between them. leopons and tigons function the exact same, and since they have no exclusive traits like their first generation variants do, I'm not going in depth into which is which.

How do I tell if my lion is a hybrid?
Great question! In order to tell if your cub is a hybrid or not, you simply have to look at the lineart. If the lineart looks like a normal lion cub, then it's just a normal lion. If the lineart looks something like these, though:

Then congratulations, you've got yourself a hybrid!

Second Generation Hybrids and above can have ANY set of traits. They can have any markings, any mane color, any mane shape, any base color, any eye color, and yes, even any skin color.
In addition to their fancy traits, they have the same boosts to passing their hybrid-exclusive traits as their First Generation counterparts! Meaning even if you have a Leopon without the Kimanjano base, she'll still pass Kimanjano from the father as if it's a normal base. The same goes for Tigons and Mandarin!
They also even have the same fertility and low-stats as their first gen counterparts.

However, there is one key difference, which is that non First Generation Hybrids pass the hybrid mutation at half of the rate of First Generation Hybrids. This means that every cub born to a non-First Gen has only a 5% chance of being a hybrid.