http://www.liger.org/are-ligers-and-tigons-really-real/ Liger Pictures and Information Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:39:06 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 http://www.liger.org/are-ligers-and-tigons-really-real/comment-page-1/#comment-191 colonel_ Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:26:56 +0000 http://www.liger.org/are-ligers-and-tigons-really-real/#comment-191 It's true - they do exist as hybrids between Tigers and Lions. A Liger is a cross between a male Lion/female Tiger and a Tigon is a cross between a male Tiger/female Lion. They aren't wild animals of course - remember that Lions are mostly found in Africa while the Tiger is an Asian animal (there are Asiatic Lions but they don't interbreed with Tigers - habitats are different and there are plenty of their own species to be mating with!) - they have been bred, mostly on the whim of rich Victorian zoological park owners in the 1800s. Some have bred in the 20th Century though. Tigons are rarer to find the Ligers as the female coursthip of a Lioness is too subtle to cue a male Tiger. Female Tigers, on the other hand, could cue a male Lion far more easily in unnatural surroundings (a zoo park). The animals, despite what people commonly believe, ARE fertile and can mate back into a pure line of Lion or tiger (though not with another Liger or Tigon). In the 40s a male Liger mated with a female Lion - the fertility of these animals is low though and this is the exception rather than the rule. It’s true – they do exist as hybrids between Tigers and Lions. A Liger is a cross between a male Lion/female Tiger and a Tigon is a cross between a male Tiger/female Lion.
They aren’t wild animals of course – remember that Lions are mostly found in Africa while the Tiger is an Asian animal (there are Asiatic Lions but they don’t interbreed with Tigers – habitats are different and there are plenty of their own species to be mating with!) – they have been bred, mostly on the whim of rich Victorian zoological park owners in the 1800s. Some have bred in the 20th Century though.
Tigons are rarer to find the Ligers as the female coursthip of a Lioness is too subtle to cue a male Tiger. Female Tigers, on the other hand, could cue a male Lion far more easily in unnatural surroundings (a zoo park).
The animals, despite what people commonly believe, ARE fertile and can mate back into a pure line of Lion or tiger (though not with another Liger or Tigon). In the 40s a male Liger mated with a female Lion – the fertility of these animals is low though and this is the exception rather than the rule.

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