Considered to be the world's largest "big cat" the average male weighs over 900 pounds and stands almost 12 feet tall which dwarfs the Siberian Tiger which was once considered to be the biggest cat weighing in at 650 and standing at 10 feet.
It is believed that these animals are so large because they inherit the growth promoting gene from their father.
What is it?
Posts: 9192 | Location: Atlanta, GA, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
The liger is the world's largest big cat. An average male liger weighs over 900 pounds and standing almost 12 feet tall.
The reason that they are called a liger is because the father was a lion and the mother was a tiger. If the situation was reversed and the mother was a lion and the father was a tiger, he would be called a tigon, and would be a dwarf instead of a giant. A fully grown tigon is usually less that 350lbs. Ligers are not sterile, and they can reproduce. If a liger were to reproduce with a tiger, it would be called a titi, and if it were to reproduce with a lion, it would be call a lili.
The reason that ligers are bigger than both parents is due to genetic sie-inhibiting in the lioness, but not the female tiger. Male lions have the genetic tendency to have offspring as large as possible; one reason is to pass on the genes of an alpha male, another is that competition between cubs for food is fierce. But the lioness has to carry 3-4 cubs, and, genetically, "knows" that food is scarce (up to 80% of cubs die in the wild). Thus, the lioness has a genetic leaning towd liniting the sie of he cubs. Lionesses also live together, and the cibs will nurse at any one of them.
Tigers, on the other hand, are solitary animals. While the female tiger still has a litter, it is to her genetic advantage to have large cubs, since there will be no competition for food. So the female tigers do not have that inhibiting gene.
So, when a lion, genetically predisposed to siring large offspring, mates with a female tiger, the genes of both tend towards a larger offspring.
How large? Take a look.
http://artweld.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/liger.JPG (This picture is too large to put on here. -------- The liger featured in the photograph is called Hobbs and lives at Sierra Safari Zoo. He is the offspring of an African lion and a Bengal tigress. The staff say, "He roars like a lion and swims like a tiger. He's definitely all cat. He likes to play, and for all his incredible bulk he moves just as silently as any other cat". He is estimated to weigh about 450 kilograms (992 pounds), about twice the average for male Siberian tigers, the largest non-extinct, naturally-occurring member of family Felidae. -------- he liger is the world's largest big cat. An average male liger weighs over 900 pounds and standing almost 12 feet tall. One site that I saw said that they clocked their liger at over 50 mph, and they didn't think it was running at top speed.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
Posts: 17280 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
