6 Comments so far

1. KTDykes on August 29, 2009 3:34 PM

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   Generalized dictionaries often aren’t very reliable when it comes to specialized language. That definition isn’t correct. If species are closely enough related, then members can sometimes crossbreed. Usually, the resultant progeny will be infertile, but that doesn’t always apply either. The vegetable swede, for example, is a hybrid that arose from naughty sexual activity between cabbages and turnips. As it happens, it’s nevertheless also able to reproduce.
   The idea that it was impossible for members of different species to interbreed, was quite popular among researchers during the first half of the nineteenth century. Some of them wanted their species to be hermatically sealed by a divine manufacturer. Darwin toddled along with his book in 1859, cited various and plentiful examples of exceptions, and the apparent isolated integrity of species in all cases fell apart.
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   Lions and tigers are closely related. They’re different species rather than different genera.
   Update
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   That’s quite involved. There are different definitions possible and necessary, in part because there are differing reproduction systems. Also, as species aren’t always hermetically sealed, their ‘limits’ can be fuzzy rather than clear cut. For example, when is a subspecies specifically different enough to be deemed a species?
   That can be subject to differing opinions, but also to utility and perspective. If you’re talking about Australian wildlife in general, and want to natter about the local egg-laying mammal echidnas, then it makes sense to lump them alI together in one category. However, if you specfically talking about only those echidnas, then it makes sense to use more localized categorisation, should there be reasonably consistent distinguishments between the populations of blighters.

2. Leolupus on August 29, 2009 4:18 PM

   To say that if two animals can interbreed, or interbreed and produce fertile young, then they are the same species is too simplistic an approach. For example, wolves and coyotes can interbreed and even produce fertile offspring, but no-one is suggesting they are the same species because, clearly, they aren’t. They are closely related, both being members of the genus Canis, but are obviously different animals – looks, genetics and behaviour all confirm this. Though we humans attempt to classify things in a clear-cut manner, nature will ultimately take its course regardless of what we think or what restrictions we try to impose upon it.
   In order for two animals of different species to be able to breed, they must be closely related – usually within the same genus, and at least within the same family. This is the case with lions and tigers – both belong to the cat family, Felidae, and both are members of the genus Panthera (the lion being P. leo and the tiger P. tigris). What this basically means is that they shared an ancestor with each other more recently than they did with any other animals, and as a result share much of the same genetic material. This enables them to interbreed, but, because they are different species and therefore not genetically identical, the offspring are usually sterile, as is the case with most hybrids (this is because the parent species have different numbers of chromosomes, meaning the hybrid cannot produce functional sex cells).
   A liger is the offspring of a male lion and female tiger. A tigon is the offspring of a male tiger and female lion. Ligers tend towards gigantism and are usually larger than either of their parents, whilst tigons are usually smaller or at least no larger than their parents. Though they are mostly sterile, occasionally a female will be fertile (there are no records of fertile males) and can be bred back to a male lion or tiger, producing:
   Lion + liger = li-liger
   Lion + tigon = li-tigon
   Tiger + liger = ti-liger
   Tiger + tigon = ti-tigon
   Inland Taipan, crossbred dogs are entirely different to hybrids of different species. All domestic dogs, regardless of breed, are the same species – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Great Dane, a Chihuahua, a Bulldog or a German Shepherd, they’re all still dogs. Therefore, breeding, say, a Rottweiler and a Labrador is not crossing two different species – merely two different breeds. The offspring are also the same species, and are therefore capable of breeding themselves.

3. The Trickster on August 29, 2009 4:42 PM

   Ligers and tigons are able to reproduce with one another and are not like mules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon
   The comparative rarity of tigons is attributed to male tigers’ finding the courtship behaviour of a lioness too subtle and thus may miss behavioural cues that signal her willingness to mate. However, lionesses actively solicit mating, so the current rarity of tigons is most likely due to their being less impressive in size than ligers, with a corresponding lesser novelty value. A century ago, tigons were evidently more common than ligers. Gerald Iles, in At Home In The Zoo (1961) was able to obtain three tigons for Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo, but wrote that he had never seen a liger. A number of tigons are currently being bred in China.
   The liger, is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger (i.e, Panthera leo × Panthera tigris[1]). A liger resembles a tiger with diffused stripes. They are the largest cats in the world, although the Siberian Tiger is the largest “pure” taxon. Ligers and tigers enjoy swimming, whereas lions do not. A similar hybrid, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion is called a tigon.
   Rare reports have been made of tigresses mating with lions in the wild.[2] Such mating may have occurred when, in uncommon circumstances, tigers were forced into ranges inhabited by the Asiatic Lion, Panthera leo persica. However, since the present-day ranges of wild lions and tigers no longer overlap,[3] it is generally held that such a combination of species would occur very rarely.[4]

4. dendroaspis polylepis on August 29, 2009 5:37 PM

   Probably, i feel they are of the same family..i.e cat family..so maybe…..I don’t know their genuses…but for dogs its the same case we have cross breeds because they are of the same family although they are of different species
   ok..fine , LEOPLUS, I can be wrong…….,if Iam wrong, my answer will not be selected…..thats ok….but I would request you to answer to the question and not to to what others answer(atleast what I answer)………I said this answer from what I have observed and what I was able to recollect at this point of time from my knowledge…..even at a later point of time I can realize it can be wrong…

5. chris on August 29, 2009 5:49 PM

   its through breeding in captivity by either artificial or natural means.

6. elmleaqu on August 29, 2009 6:05 PM

   they can interbreed through artifical means but the product is not able to reproduce – like donkeys and horses making mules