ok, disturbing. but kitty!!
Aug. 17th, 2005 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideI hadn't heard of this before. But now that I have, I can't believe I hadn't at least heard of them.
I am speaking of the genetic phenomenon that is the liger. Or, the less common (for relative values of common) tigon.
From Wikipedia:
Ligers.
The liger is a cross (a hybrid) between a male lion and a female tiger. It is therefore a member of genus Panthera. It looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes. Like tigers (and unlike lions), ligers like swimming.
A cross between a male tiger and a female lion is called a tigon.
Known ligers exist due to human influence, either by deliberate human intervention, or by humans putting lions and tigers in enclosed spaces together. In natural conditions tigers and lions generally do not inhabit the same territory - the two species coexist in the wild today only in the Gir forest of India, although their respective ranges used to intersect in Persia, China and perhaps also Beringia. Even where they do coexist, there have been no confirmed reports of natural interbreeding, though there are long-standing claims that this has happened.
Ligers grow much larger than tigers or lions and it is believed this is because female lions transmit a growth-inhibiting gene to their descendants to balance the growth-promoting gene transmitted by male lions (this gene is due to competitive mating strategies in lions). Being the offspring of a male lion and female tiger, the liger inherits the growth-promoting gene, but does not have the growth-inhibiting gene and typically grows larger than either animal; this is called growth dysplasia. Some male ligers grow sparse manes.
Male ligers are sterile. Female ligers are often fertile and can be mated to a tiger resulting in ti-liger offspring or to a lion resulting in li-liger offspring.
Tigons.
A tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger. Tigons presumably do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviours and habitats - and then, of course, there is the fact that tigers are an Asian species, whereas lions are African.
Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother and stripes from the father. Any mane that a male tigon may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion's mane. Tigons grow smaller than lions or tigers, due to the fact that they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents; they often weigh around 150 kilograms (350 lb). They appear "housecat-like".
Most tigons are sterile, but a tigon named Noelle in the Shambala Reserve mated with a tiger to produce a "ti-tigon".
I am speaking of the genetic phenomenon that is the liger. Or, the less common (for relative values of common) tigon.
From Wikipedia:
Ligers.
The liger is a cross (a hybrid) between a male lion and a female tiger. It is therefore a member of genus Panthera. It looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes. Like tigers (and unlike lions), ligers like swimming.
A cross between a male tiger and a female lion is called a tigon.
Known ligers exist due to human influence, either by deliberate human intervention, or by humans putting lions and tigers in enclosed spaces together. In natural conditions tigers and lions generally do not inhabit the same territory - the two species coexist in the wild today only in the Gir forest of India, although their respective ranges used to intersect in Persia, China and perhaps also Beringia. Even where they do coexist, there have been no confirmed reports of natural interbreeding, though there are long-standing claims that this has happened.
Ligers grow much larger than tigers or lions and it is believed this is because female lions transmit a growth-inhibiting gene to their descendants to balance the growth-promoting gene transmitted by male lions (this gene is due to competitive mating strategies in lions). Being the offspring of a male lion and female tiger, the liger inherits the growth-promoting gene, but does not have the growth-inhibiting gene and typically grows larger than either animal; this is called growth dysplasia. Some male ligers grow sparse manes.
Male ligers are sterile. Female ligers are often fertile and can be mated to a tiger resulting in ti-liger offspring or to a lion resulting in li-liger offspring.
Tigons.
A tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger. Tigons presumably do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviours and habitats - and then, of course, there is the fact that tigers are an Asian species, whereas lions are African.
Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have both spots from the mother and stripes from the father. Any mane that a male tigon may have will appear shorter and less noticeable than a lion's mane. Tigons grow smaller than lions or tigers, due to the fact that they inherit growth-inhibitory genes from both parents; they often weigh around 150 kilograms (350 lb). They appear "housecat-like".
Most tigons are sterile, but a tigon named Noelle in the Shambala Reserve mated with a tiger to produce a "ti-tigon".
