Concerning Ligers and Tigons:
There is some question as to the authenticity of the existence of Ligers and Tigons.
Ligers are the offspring of male tigers and female lions. The result is basically a large, brown-striped cat with a massive head and long body. They are larger than either lions or tigers, because the growth-restrictive genes for each species is carried by the other gender.
Tigons or tiglons are the offspring of female tigers and male lions. The result is a smaller striped and spotted cat, smaller than both the parent species. They are usually sterile, but according to one website, a tiglon had successfully bred with a tiger, creating a ti-tiglon.
A lot of pictures online look like fakes or could be fakes. Many of the websites were made by elementary school kids doing projects, or people with elementary school minds. My personal favorite was the Anti-Liger Alliance, "dedicated to the eradication of humans' deadliest foe." To them, a liger is: "Half lion, half tiger, all terror."
This website seems reputable, but the next news article listed is Russia Joins Iran in Fighting UFO’s.
This picture is cute:
But notice the whiskers on either side of the face? They stop, too short, on the left-hand side of the face. It has the hallmarks of being photo-shopped. The other photos on that site are equally shady, but it's the grade-school project I mentioned.
This picture:
is probably the best. It's hard to photo-shop the way the light plays across the animal's body, and there's no evidence that the photo has been worked on. It also comes from what I think is a pretty reputable source, a zoo that is the liger's home.
The issue is that people think that ligers and tigons were invented by some fanciful culture, including the popularity of the film, Napoleon Dynamite. A liger was also a creature in the Duel Masters game, and there has recently been a toy version of the undead "Death-Liger".
However, the word "tiglon" shows up in the 2000 version of the American Heritage dictionary (thanks to dictionary.com. "Liger" is equally represented.
One of the reasons, I think, that no one knew about ligers or tiglons before now is that they aren't a real species. They're all zoo-bred, very rare, and they aren't always interesting to look at. Ligers, because they don't have any of the growth-restricting genes of their parents, are often grossly overweight.
Ligers are the offspring of male tigers and female lions. The result is basically a large, brown-striped cat with a massive head and long body. They are larger than either lions or tigers, because the growth-restrictive genes for each species is carried by the other gender.
Tigons or tiglons are the offspring of female tigers and male lions. The result is a smaller striped and spotted cat, smaller than both the parent species. They are usually sterile, but according to one website, a tiglon had successfully bred with a tiger, creating a ti-tiglon.
A lot of pictures online look like fakes or could be fakes. Many of the websites were made by elementary school kids doing projects, or people with elementary school minds. My personal favorite was the Anti-Liger Alliance, "dedicated to the eradication of humans' deadliest foe." To them, a liger is: "Half lion, half tiger, all terror."
This website seems reputable, but the next news article listed is Russia Joins Iran in Fighting UFO’s.
This picture is cute:
But notice the whiskers on either side of the face? They stop, too short, on the left-hand side of the face. It has the hallmarks of being photo-shopped. The other photos on that site are equally shady, but it's the grade-school project I mentioned.
This picture:
is probably the best. It's hard to photo-shop the way the light plays across the animal's body, and there's no evidence that the photo has been worked on. It also comes from what I think is a pretty reputable source, a zoo that is the liger's home.
The issue is that people think that ligers and tigons were invented by some fanciful culture, including the popularity of the film, Napoleon Dynamite. A liger was also a creature in the Duel Masters game, and there has recently been a toy version of the undead "Death-Liger".
However, the word "tiglon" shows up in the 2000 version of the American Heritage dictionary (thanks to dictionary.com. "Liger" is equally represented.
One of the reasons, I think, that no one knew about ligers or tiglons before now is that they aren't a real species. They're all zoo-bred, very rare, and they aren't always interesting to look at. Ligers, because they don't have any of the growth-restricting genes of their parents, are often grossly overweight.
