8 Comments so far

1. rblanken on July 6, 2009 4:06 AM

   this first answer is correct. when you mess with nature, you get flaws.

2. birdgirl on July 6, 2009 4:18 AM

   I think releasing one of these animals would be wrong…but I think it would be killed rather quickly by other tigers or lions depending where it was released. If it did survive…it may cause some competition as far as food sources, but it would not be able to reproduce..so once it died or was killed, there would be no long term affects on the environment.

3. Save the wolves. on July 6, 2009 4:39 AM

   They would harm the ecosystem by competing for food with the actual animals that belong in the ecosystem. We have a hard enough time trying to save the species that actually exist.

4. archange on July 6, 2009 5:30 AM

   Since ligers are normally bred in captivity, there is always the percentage of disrupting the natural flow of the ecosystem where they will be released. The reason being that breeding in captivity has somehow affected the normal instincts of the animal and therefore its behavioural patterns. Nature also has the tremendous capacity to react against any alterations or anomalies in every habitat, only that there are some consequences that are unavoidable; like the extinction of a species. If ligers are naturally born in the wild, then an integration of the animal in that habitat would not be that difficult due to the natural survival instinct of the organism. But since most of them (if not all) are bred in captivity, human contact and an enclosed environment where they were born into has somehow affected their predatory instincts and their behavioural patterns may be very unpredictable. If they don’t adapt well in the wild and take on their natural behaviour of predation (which is more likely to happen as a consequence of being bred in captivity), then they might be the “hunted” once released into the wild, kinda like a “culture-shock” for immigrants in a new country. If the opposite happens (quite impossible), because of the advantage of their size, they might hunt every animal or even other predators that naturally function as a “check-and-balance” in a habitat. That in a sense can alter the ecosystem and we don’t know how Mother Nature would react to that. But definitely She would react and there would be consequences due to the “product” of Man’s interference.

5. Erik on July 6, 2009 6:21 AM

   Absolutely not! Never introduce exotic species into a new habitat.

6. TheSlayo on July 6, 2009 7:08 AM

   Any impact they would have would be short-lived. As a “species” they are sterile, so no future generations would be created from the released animals.

7. G!ZMO on July 6, 2009 7:56 AM

   We messed with nature and this is what happened.Mankind made an animal that couldn’t live in the wild because A its sterile so no little ligers from big ligers.B its an awkward animal that from what i read still can’t hunt for itself in the wild.

8. Leviatha on July 6, 2009 8:34 AM

   Of course they wouldn’t harm the ecosystem.
   Because they’re all infertile.
   Surely you know the same is true about Mules? This is no different. The two separate species can make one child but that child is not viable because when it comes to reproduce the chromosome numbers do not match up.