Know what's a Liger? It's a cross breed of a Lion male and Tiger female... Read on...... The 10ft Liger who's still growing... He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creation from Hollywood . But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves every time he opens his gigantic mouth to roar. Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one, standing 10ft tall on his back legs. Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is the largest of all the cat species. On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting. At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton. He is the accidental result of two enormous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami, Florida , and already dwarfs both his parents. "Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute owner Dr Bhagavan Antle. "We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then loo and behold we had a liger." 50mph runner... Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions. In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia . But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II.
Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother. Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger. Look at the size of the head on this thing.. )
Old picture, but thanks for sharing... It is really big.. There was a show on this Liger in NatGeo. And don't go near that mouth ...
Wow... its huge.. they should name it Lyger, who knew they exsisted through cross breeding! Neat stuff.
Really good whether they allow tigers or lions to be in captivity at home in any country? I think its highly impossible for us in India to grow a big cat since laws are very tough!
Really huge one........Tell me was that Lion Boy and Tiger Girl married or It was a rape case.?????? still a good example to say dont play against nature (hope many can point out what I mean )
Wow!! it's such a huge animal. I don;t think any naturalist is going to like this human creation. Tiger and Lion belong to diffferent habitats and they could not have met in natural environment.
Not at all... what is the main purpose to inbreed? Well.. puppies to sell... creating new food etc, but its not 100% necessary at all! Humans are manipulating natural selection and such eh?