by Tammy L Mahan

Created on: March 17, 2008   Last Updated: February 09, 2010

The Liger is a cross breed between a tiger and a lion. The hybrid breed was created by mating a female tiger and a male lion.

History

The first litter of ligers was born in 1824, in Asia another litter was born in a zoo in South Africa in 1935 the male of the litter was larger than an adult male lion weighting 775 pounds and standing almost two feet taller.

The most well known liger is named Hercules and he resides at Jungle Island in Florida. He was been a guest star on numerous shows such as; Good Morning America, The Today Show and 60 minutes.

By the age of three he was already twice the size of an adult male lion in the wild weighting nine hundred pounds. He currently holds the record for the largest cat in The Book of World Records.

While there are some ligers known to be living in the wild as a result of accidental breeding among the two species, not much is known about these ligers; whether they grow as large as the ones in captivity, form their own family units or stay with the tiger family.

Description

The liger has the stripes of the tiger and the body size of the lion. When standing on their hind legs than can reach fourteen feet tall. The average adult male liger weights between one thousand and fifteen hundred pounds and the female weights slightly less at eight hundred to twelve hundred pounds.

While some ligers have more dominated characteristics of either the lion of the tiger they share the same genes. A liger will roar like a lion but will not grunt at the end of the roar.

Most of the male ligers do have a small mane while some have a large one depending on the dominate gene in the liger.

Like the tiger the liger loves water where the lion doesn't like water. In most cases the liger has an even amount of both genes of the parents.

Habitat

Ligers are a captive breed of cats living in zoos, animal parks or special habitats. All of which have been designed to resemble the natural habitat of the lions and tigers in the wild. Grasslands, savannahs and some mountainous terrain. Of course in a controlled environment there are trees, pools of water and shady area.

Diet

The liger's diet is the same as lions and tigers they are carnivorous and are feed raw meat and live chickens.

Reproduction

Follows the same patter as in the wild. The lion and tiger live together in their "habitat" and get along very well. The gestation period is three months, however mating can be difficult at first as it is not "normal" behavior for the lion and tiger so it may take up to a year of them living together before mating even occurs. The tiger does not always conceive immediately either it may take several attempts.

Health

The liger's are often born with birth defects and do not survive the first year of life. Many die within the first week. The average lifespan is only eighteen to twenty-two years.

It's unknown how many ligers there actually are but estimates suggest a few hundred.

The liger is a beautiful cat hopefully with some more understanding of the breed scientists can find a way to prevent the birth defects and breed healthy ligers.

Sources
www.liger.com
www.ligerhistory.com
www.aboutligers.com

Learn more about this author, Tammy L Mahan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.