What is a Liger?
A liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger. Ligers look a bit like a giant lion with faint stripes - stripes that are much more faint than a tiger’s stripes.
Note that a liger is produced only if the male lion mates with a female tiger. If a female lion mates with a male tiger, the result is a different animal - a tigon.
Ligers are the largest cats in the world - much larger than a lion or a tiger. In fact, they can grow to the size of both parents! Their skulls can be 40% larger than a lion’s or tigers.
Ligers are usually only bred in captivity. Lions and tigers rarely (if ever) mate in the wild. Because of this, ligers don’t have a scientific name. They do however, belong to the genus Panthera.
Ligers were first known to exist in England back in 1823. Today, there are many ligers in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the world.
While female ligers can reproduce, male ligers are known to be sterile. It has been said that male ligers have unstable genes and never reach puberty.
A Liger Called “Sinbad”
A liger by the name of Sinbad is one of the largest known ligers in the world. Sinbad weighs around 900 lbs, which is twice the size of a male lion. Here’s a short video of Sinbad and his trainer, Dr Bhagavan Antle:
Tags: hybrid, liger, tiger, tigon, wild cats
May 8th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
[...] Natural Environment Blog Blogging for the Natural Environment « What is a Liger? [...]
December 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
A powerful big cat that is massive, huge and mammoth. That can take down large African buffaloes. That can gain a sprint of 60 miles per hour. That has the ability to take down any other antelope. In the past only the saber toothed tiger and American cave lions were as big as the ligers. This is surely a very beautiful animal.