Liger - wikipedia Liger Liger Female ( left ) and male ( right ) ligers at Everland amusement park in South Korea. Scientific classification Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Mammalia Order : Carnivora Suborder : Feliformia Family : Felidae Subfamily : Pantherinae Genus : Panthera Species : P. leo ♂ × P. tigris ♀ The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion ( Panthera leo ) and a female tiger ( Panthera tigris ). The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the similar hybrid tigon, and is the largest of all known extant felines. They enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons. Contents 1 History 2 Size and growth 2.1 Hercules the liger 3 Longevity 4 Fertility 5 Appearance 6 Zoo policies 7 Coexistence of parental species 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links History The history of lion - tiger hybrids dates to at least the early 19th century in India. In 1798, Étienne Geoffroy Saint - Hilaire ( 1772 -- 1844 ) made a colour plate of the offspring of a lion and a tiger. The portmanteau `` liger '' was coined by the 1930s. In 1825, G.B. Whittaker made an engraving of liger cubs born in 1824. The parents and their three liger offspring are also depicted with their trainer in a 19th - century painting in the naïve style. Two liger cubs born in 1837 were exhibited to King William IV and to his successor Queen Victoria. On 14 December 1900 and on 31 May 1901, Carl Hagenbeck wrote to zoologist James Cossar Ewart with details and photographs of ligers born at the Hagenbeck 's Tierpark in Hamburg in 1897. In Animal Life and the World of Nature ( 1902 -- 1903 ), A.H. Bryden described Hagenbeck 's `` lion - tiger '' hybrids : It has remained for one of the most enterprising collectors and naturalists of our time, Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, not only to breed but to bring successfully to a healthy maturity, specimens of this rare alliance between those two great and formidable Felidae, the lion and tiger. The illustrations will indicate sufficiently how fortunate Mr. Hagenbeck has been in his efforts to produce these hybrids. The oldest and biggest of the animals shown is a hybrid born on the 11th May 1897. This fine beast, now more than five years old, equals and even excels in his proportions a well - grown lion, measuring as he does from nose tip to tail 10 ft 2 inches in length, and standing only three inches less than 4 ft at the shoulder. A good big lion will weigh about 400 lb (... ) the hybrid in question, weighing as it does no less than 467 lb, is certainly the superior of the most well - grown lions, whether wild - bred or born in a menagerie. This animal shows faint striping and mottling, and, in its characteristics, exhibits strong traces of both its parents. It has a somewhat lion - like head, and the tail is more like that of a lion than of a tiger. On the other hand, it has no trace of mane. It is a huge and very powerful beast. In 1935, four ligers from two litters were reared in the Zoological Gardens of Bloemfontein, South Africa. Three of them, a male and two females, were still living in 1953. The male weighed 340 kg ( 750 lb ) and stood a foot and a half ( 45 cm ) taller than a full grown male lion at the shoulder. Although ligers are more commonly found than tigons today, in At Home In The Zoo ( 1961 ), Gerald Iles wrote `` For the record I must say that I have never seen a liger, a hybrid obtained by crossing a lion with a tigress. They seem to be even rarer than tigons. '' Size and growth The liger is often believed to represent the largest known cat in the world. Males reach a total length of 3 to 3.6 m, meaning they are larger than large Siberian tiger males, who are themselves usually larger than the larger lion species. Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to the large size of ligers. These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally - inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally `` counteracted '' by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed. Other big cat hybrids can reach similar sizes ; the litigon, a rare hybrid of a male lion and a female tigon, is roughly the same size as the liger, with a male named Cubanacan ( at the Alipore Zoo in India ) reaching 363 kg ( 800 lb ). The extreme rarity of these second - generation hybrids may make it difficult to ascertain whether they are larger or smaller, on average than the liger. It is wrongly believed that ligers continue to grow throughout their lives due to hormonal issues. It may be that they simply grow far more during their growing years and take longer to reach their full adult size. Further growth in shoulder height and body length is not seen in ligers over 6 years old, as in both lions and tigers. Male ligers also have the same levels of testosterone on average as an adult male lion, yet are azoospermic in accordance with Haldane 's rule. In addition, female ligers may also attain great size, weighing approximately 320 kg ( 705 lb ) and reaching 3.05 m ( 10 ft ) long on average, and are often fertile. In contrast, pumapards ( hybrids between pumas and leopards ) tend to exhibit dwarfism. Ligers are about the same size as the prehistoric Smilodon populator and American lion. Hercules the liger and his trainer Bhagavan Antle Hercules the liger Hercules, the largest non-obese liger, is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest living cat on Earth, weighing 418.2 kg ( 922 lb ). Hercules was featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, Inside Edition, and in a Maxim article in 2005, when he was only three years old and already weighed 408.25 kg ( 900 lb ). Hercules is healthy and is expected to live a long life. The cat 's breeding is said to have been a complete accident. Longevity Shasta, a ligress ( female liger ) was born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on 14 May 1948 and died in 1972 at age 24. Valley of the Kings animal sanctuary in Wisconsin had a male liger named Nook who weighed over 550 kg ( 1,213 lb ), and died in 2007, at 21 years old. Hobbs, a male liger at the Sierra Safari Zoo in Reno, Nevada, lived to almost 15 years of age before succumbing to liver failure and weighed in at 450 kg ( 992 lb ). This liger was born in 1943 and died in 1960. South Africa still has two ligers at its one zoo at Bloemfontein. Fertility The fertility of hybrid big cat females is well documented across a number of different hybrids. This is in accordance with Haldane 's rule : in hybrids of animals whose sex is determined by sex chromosomes, if one sex is absent, rare or sterile, it is the heterogametic sex ( the one with two different sex chromosomes e.g. X and Y ). According to Wild Cats of the World ( 1975 ) by C.A.W. Guggisberg, ligers and tigons were long thought to be sterile : in 1943, a fifteen - year - old hybrid between a lion and an ' Island ' tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the Munich Hellabrunn Zoo. The female cub, though of delicate health, was raised to adulthood. In September 2012, the Russian Novosibirsk Zoo announced the birth of a `` liliger '', which is the offspring of a liger mother and a lion father. The cub was named Kiara. Appearance Colour plate of the offspring of a lion and tiger, Étienne Geoffroy Saint - Hilaire Ligers have a tiger - like striped pattern that is very faint upon a lionesque tawny background. In addition, they may inherit rosettes from the lion parent ( lion cubs are rosetted and some adults retain faint markings ). These markings may be black, dark brown or sandy. The background colour may be correspondingly tawny, sandy or golden. In common with tigers, their underparts are pale. The actual pattern and colour depend on which subspecies the parents were and on how the genes interact in the offspring. White tigers have been crossed with lions to produce `` white '' ( actually pale golden ) ligers. In theory, white tigers could be crossed with white lions to produce white, very pale or even stripeless ligers. There are no black ligers. Very few melanistic tigers have ever been recorded, most being due to excessive markings ( pseudo-melanism or abundism ) rather than true melanism ; no reports of black lions have ever been substantiated. As blue or Maltese tigers probably no longer exist, grey or blue ligers are exceedingly improbable. It is not impossible for a liger to be white, but it is very rare. Zoo policies Keeping the two species separate has been standard procedure. However, ligers have occurred and do occur by accident in captivity. Several AZA zoos are reported to have ligers. Coexistence of parental species Further information : Coexistence of the lion and tiger in the wilderness As with the tigon, the liger exists only in captivity, because the habitats of the parental species do not overlap. Historically, however, when the Asiatic lion was prolific, the territories of the lion and tiger did overlap in Eurasia, and there are legends of male lions mating with tigresses in the wilderness, or of ligers existing there. The Asiatic lion had coexisted with the Bengal tiger in India, besides occurring in places where the Caspian tiger had been, like Iraq and Persia. In India, there is a plan to shift some lions from their current home of Gir Forest to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, which has some tigers, but it has not been implemented as of now. See also Felid hybrid Tigon Leopon Heterosis List of portmanteaus Panthera hybrid Tiger versus lion References ^ Jump up to : `` Liger cubs nursed by dog in China 's Xixiakou Zoo ''. BBC News Asia - Pacific. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2011. ^ Jump up to : ligerfacts.org. `` The Liger - Meet the World 's Largest Cat ''. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 17. ^ Jump up to : Ligers messybeast.com Retrieved 4 September 2012. Jump up ^ `` When the sire is a lion the result is termed a Liger, whilst the converse is a Tigon. '' Edward George Boulenger, World Natural History, B.T. Batsford ltd., 1937, p. 40. Jump up ^ Bryden, A.H. ( contributor ). `` Animal Life and the World of Nature '' ( 1902 -- 1903, bound partwork ). Jump up ^ Iles, G. At Home In The Zoo ( 1961 ). Jump up ^ Description of ligers at Bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net Jump up ^ Description of ligers at Lairweb.org.nz Jump up ^ Vratislav Mazák : Der Tiger. Westarp Wissenschaften ; Auflage : 5 ( April 2004 ), unveränd. Aufl. von 1983 ISBN 3 - 89432 - 759 - 6 Jump up ^ `` Growth dysplasia in hybrid big cats ''. Retrieved 23 June 2006. Jump up ^ Howard Hughes Medical Institute ( 30 April 2000 ). `` HHMI News : Gene Tug - of - War Leads to Distinct Species ''. Retrieved 23 June 2006. Jump up ^ `` Tigon ''. messybeast.com. Retrieved 21 July 2010. Jump up ^ Largest living cat Jump up ^ `` Hercules, 922 - Pound Liger, Is The World 's Largest Living Cat ( PHOTOS ) ''. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 31 January 2015. Jump up ^ Twila Van Leer ( 21 January 1996 ). `` BABY LIGER BROUGHT NEW LIFE TO STRUGGLING ZOO ''. Deseret News. Retrieved 1 February 2015. Jump up ^ Largest cat hybrid Jump up ^ `` Liger : Recorded Ages of the Ligers ''. Ligerworld.com. Retrieved 2013 - 12 - 10. Jump up ^ Guggisberg, C.A.W. `` Wild Cats of the World. '' ( 1975 ). Jump up ^ Katia Andreassi ( 21 September 2012 ). `` '' Liliger '' Born in Russia No Boon for Big Cats ``. National Geographic. Jump up ^ Kock, D. ( 1990 ). `` Historical record of a tiger, Panthera tigris ( Linnaeus, 1758 ), in Iraq ''. Zoology in the Middle East. 4 : 11 -- 15. doi : 10.1080 / 09397140.1990. 10637583. Jump up ^ Pocock, R.I. ( 1939 ). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia. -- Volume 1. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London. Pp. 199 -- 222. Jump up ^ Heptner, V.G. ; Sludskij, A.A. ( 1992 ) ( 1972 ). Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva : Vysšaia Škola ( Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora ( Hyaenas and Cats ) ). Washington DC : Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. pp. 82 -- 202. Jump up ^ Johnsingh, A.J.T. ( 2006 ). `` Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary ready to play second home to Asiatic lions ? ''. Field Days : A Naturalist 's Journey Through South and Southeast Asia. Hyderabad : Universities Press. pp. 126 -- 138. ISBN 8173715521. This article incorporates text from messybeast.com, which is released under the GFDL. Further reading Peters, G. `` Comparative Investigation of Vocalisation in Several Felids '' published in German in Spixiana - Supplement, 1978 ; ( 1 ) : 1 -- 206. Courtney, N. The Tiger, Symbol of Freedom. Quartet Books, London, 1980. External links The Richmond palladium and sun - telegram : The Theater Theatrical Calendar Mammal hybrids Bovidae Beefalo Dzo Sheep -- goat hybrid Yakalo Żubroń Camelidae Cama Bukht Huarizo Canis Coydog Coywolf Dingo hybrid Jackal -- dog hybrid Wolfdog Delphinidae Wholphin Elephantidae Elephant hybrid Equus Hinny Mule Zebroid Felidae Bengal cat Blynx Caraval Chausie Highlander Kellas Pumapard Savannah Serengeti Leoger Leguar Leopon Liger Liguar Liliger Litigon Lijagulep Marozi Tigon Jaglion Jagger Jagupard Tiliger Tiguar Tigard Lipard Hominidae Humanzee Hybrid orangutan Koolakamba Macropodinae Macropod hybrids Sus Iron Age pig Mustela Polecat - ferret hybrid Polecat - mink hybrid Ursus Grizzly -- polar bear hybrid Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liger&oldid=808386674 '' Categories : Panthera hybrids Hidden categories : Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism Articles with ' species ' microformats All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012 Articles with unsourced statements from July 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 Use dmy dates from May 2012 Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia বাংলা Башҡортса Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Gagauz Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Basa Jawa ಕನ್ನಡ Latviešu Lietuvių Lumbaart മലയാളം مصرى Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Português Română Русский Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 2 November 2017, at 15 : 32. 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Question: what is a cross between a lion and tiger called
Answer: liger