A liger is the product of bizarre directive crossbreeding of a male lion and a female tiger, resulting in a creature that resembles their lion heritage more so than the tiger, and are entirely real. There are only a handful of ligers in the entire world.
A Liger isn’t even a species, it’s a hybrid — there is no scientific name assigned to this creature due to its human assisted ancestry. While male ligers are sterile, female ligers are fertile, and can reproduce, but they’re unable to produce fertile offspring.
Rare reports have been made of tigresses mating with lions in the wild, but breeding between lions and tigers generally occurs only in captivity. Under exceptional circumstances it’s been known for a tiger to be forced into ranges inhabited by the Asiatic Lion. However, this combination of species in the wild is considered highly unlikely. The present day range of wild lions and tigers no longer overlap.
“Crossing the species line” does not typically occur in the wild, as “it would result in diminished fitness of the offspring.” said Ronald Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley.
Geography is another obstacle to natural lion-tiger mating. Wild tigers generally inhabit Asia, whereas the lion’s current natural habitat is almost entirely in Africa.
The Gir National Forest in India is the only location in the world where tiger and lion ranges overlap, increasing supposition that wild ligers roamed the area hundreds of years ago.
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“This would be highly improbable, because the Gir forest is really very dry and not optimal tiger habitat.” said Tilson.A liger looks like a giant lion with muted stripes or spots running through it. Most often, the striping is located across the back and hindquarters, while the abdominal area is spotted. The spots are inherited from the lion, even though they’re not usually obvious in adult lions. Spotting can be found on lion cubs and assist for camouflage in the wild. On rare occasions adult lions will retain these. Tiger ear spots may or may not be present and the same applies to the tiger facial ruff
Though the tigers involved are usually orange in color, white tigers have been hybridized with lions to produce white ligers and golden tabby tigers have been hybridized with lions to produce golden ligers.
The largest feline in the world, ligers can grow to more than 1000 pounds (450 kilos) in weight, and reported length of greater than 12 feet (6.7 meters). They will consume anywhere from 20 to 50 pounds of meat per day but can be capable of eating 100 pounds (45 kilos) in a single sitting. Their average reported longevity is anywhere from 18 to 24 years.
Hybrid animals usually display what’s known as ‘hybrid vigor’. This means the offspring grow much larger and faster than either parent — many hybridizations can cause gigantism. Ligers are generally 40% larger than their lion and tiger parents.
They usually chuff like a tiger and roar like a lion, but without sounding the typical lion grunt at the end. Their vocabulary consists of both lion and tiger sounds.
Like their tiger ancestors, ligers enjoy swimming, which goes against the nature of the lion. It gets the best of both parents in this respect which is not always the case with crossbreeds.
WHAT IS A TIGON ?
A tigon is the result of crossbreeding a male tiger with a female lion.video
During the 1800’s there were more tigons than ligers but that trend has changed — tigons are not as plentiful today. Their crossbreeding is currently being practiced in China.
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