Ligers: New King of the Jungle?...

Tiger Mates With Lion, Gives Birth to �Liger� Cub in Siberian Zoo

In what local zoologists are calling a miracle, a Bengalese tiger has given birth to a healthy tiger-lion cub at a Novosibirsk zoo.

Pretty crazy story I ran across and thought was worthy of this section...

saw this a while ago, kind of freaky

lionshrine.topcities.com...

There are two hybrids: Liger and Tigon

The tigon is the result from the mating between a male tiger and a lioness. The tigon is obviously smaller in size than either the lion or the tiger.

The liger is the result from the mating between a male lion and a female tiger. The liger is incredibely larger in size than both the lion and the tiger reaching about 11 feet (3.4 mt) in length, which makes it the largest living cat on earth. Ligers are the living proof that hybrid cats can surely be fertile.

edit:

Liger

Its too slow to hunt in the wild and it also requires a hell of a lot of food.





Tigon



[edit on 7-12-2004 by UK Wizard]

This has kind of breeding has been done before, and unfortunately, the animals never live long. I don't think humans would ever introduce this kind of animal into the wild because its not ethically sound.

and wouldn't such "hybrids" be fertile? I remember reading somewhere that most are....
If this is true, then there is no chance of your crazy creatures to rule in the jungle or savannah. Tigers' fur is naturally blended for their surroundings, as is the lions. any hybrids would be unfit for either situation.

edit was for above entry.

[edit on 7-12-2004 by satchbfoot]

Kinda reminds me of the hybrid I saw once called the Zonky, it was a zebra and a donkey that mated. It was the craziest thing. The first half was donkey and the last half was still donky but had the coloring of a zebra. And no it wasn't fake. seen it on realtv.


That is the biggest Cat I have ever seen!.

Tigers' fur is naturally blended for their surroundings

Yeah , I mean tigers always hide in their vibrant orange and black surroundings. The lions natural camoflauge actually makes sense because of the plains. But the tiger? I thought was a jungle cat? The panther has way better camo then a tiger.

I want to see a Siberian Tiger crossed with a lion....or maybe a panther...lol...

saw Tions and Ligers all the time with the circus that used to come to Houma, La. every year....saw a Zebra Horse too.

What's really fun is the fertile female mule they had some time back.... that was a FIRST, lol...

Originally posted by _BLiND_
Kinda reminds me of the hybrid I saw once called the Zonky,

Sure you aren't thinking of a quagga?


Nope, apparently not! Apparently there is such a thing as a Zonkey! I am amazed!


And there is also a Zorse

Supposedly, and I think Darwin mentioned this in Origin, horses are sometimes born naturally that have zebra like marks on their back legs, or maybe it was the result of different cross breeds of different kinds of horses, (but not ones bred with zebras) that resulted in what he thought was 'primitive' traits comming out.

The Okapi also has similar patterns, but of course isn't a horse.

From what I understand, they are trying to 're-create' the quagga by either crossing zebras and horses, or perhaps it was by selecting les stripped zebras, or something like that.

That is the biggest Cat I have ever seen!.

Yeah I noticed that too. Tigers are supposed to be the biggest cats around, and that thing is positively monstrous.

The panther has way better camo then a tiger.

I think that the pattern is supposed to be like the pattern of shadows and lights that fall in the jungle. I guess colour isn't important if what you are stalking is colour blind. Don't know if it is tho.

Originally posted by _BLiND_
Yeah , I mean tigers always hide in their vibrant orange and black surroundings.

The lions natural camoflauge actually makes sense because of the plains. But the tiger? I thought was a jungle cat? The panther has way better camo then a tiger.

Actually, if you've ever been to the african and indian jungles, they're not the stereotypical thick-green everyone's used to in movies. they are mosly dark green and dark/light brown, few mosses and shroubs, mostly trees with more bark and branches then leaves. So actually, a tiger's orange/black fur would camouflage it with the surroundings of a brown background.


Hate to bash, but learn your flora and fauna.

Supposedly, and I think Darwin mentioned this in Origin, horses are sometimes born naturally that have zebra like marks on their back legs, or maybe it was the result of different cross breeds of different kinds of horses, (but not ones bred with zebras) that resulted in what he thought was 'primitive' traits comming out.

Darwin was on to something. Generations carry the genes of ancestors' (duh, but i mean all the gene, hair, skin, eye, even if they aren't born with it visible) see a pattern? gene - generation? Anyways, back o the rant. Say I've got a red-furred rabbit. Now, this rabbit has a lot of kids, and I keep about three. Now, those three have a lot of kids, and keep one of each, now those three have kids .... (continues for about 50 years) Chances are down the line of this fifty years, one rabbit'll be born with red hair. Even though the zebra and horse aren't closely related, the gene is there, so it's possible that once in a while (we're talking 1:100000 here) any kind of animal'll be born with traits of it's past ancestors.

[edit on 7-12-2004 by satchbfoot]

I've seen pictures of Ligers before and they are HUGE!!!

The Local zoo here in Salt Lake used to have a liger and a tiglon. They're still there, stuffed in the big cat display.

....

Actually, if you've ever been to the african and indian jungles, they're not the stereotypical thick-green everyone's used to in movies. they are mosly dark green and dark/light brown, few mosses and shroubs, mostly trees with more bark and branches then leaves. So actually, a tiger's orange/black fur would camouflage it with the surroundings of a brown background

True to an extent, its more of an optical illusion from a decent to far distance. Argg, I forget what it is called when you color/paint like that to get that effect. To get green, you would paint blue and yellow beside each other. Or something along those lines. It has been awhile.

Ligers get much bigger then Tigons, This is because the male tiger and a female lion both carry genes that inhibit extreme growth. The Ligers parents are a Female Tiger and male lion both of which dont carry that gene.Thus these cats can grow to extreme sizes much bigger then any of their parents.

Ligers are also known to be very docile for large cats this is thought to be due to a deficiency of testosterone they have.

perhaps when you mate the 2 together you also get ancestral genes that for some reason activate, back to the much larger lions and sabretoothed cats of the ice age

Originally posted by KKing123
perhaps when you mate the 2 together you also get ancestral genes that for some reason activate

I think that that is more or less what darwin was getting at in the case of the horses

, back to the much larger lions and sabretoothed cats of the ice age

I think that modern tigers are bigger than most sabertooths.

Originally posted by Nygdan

, back to the much larger lions and sabretoothed cats of the ice age

I think that modern tigers are bigger than most sabertooths.

Im pretty sure your right Sabertooths where about the size of a modern day lion but their body was a much bulker build and was almost twice as heavy.

There was a Ice Age lion the American lion (Panthera atrox ) that was bigger then modern lions

Most are infertile, but sometimes in rare cases they can be fertile. Had my pic taken with a liger before. But what I would like to see more of is the lepon....Click here

Its fascinating, yet at the same time somewhat disturbing. I can't help but to wonder what other types of cross breeding experiments that have been done. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, very interesting!