Liger in Siberian Zoo
MosNews - Photo from Newsru.com
A liger — a cross between a tiger and a lion — that was born last summer has now gone on public display in an open-air enclosure at a Siberian zoo, RIA Novosti reports. The female called Zita is one of two cubs born from a cross between a female Bengalese tiger and an African lion at Novosibirsk Zoo last summer, deputy zoo director Olga Shilo told RIA Novosti. Zita is now an adolescent carnivore weighting 50 kilos, who feeds on meat, milk, eggs and other food that grown-up big cats eat, Shilo said. “It is hard to say, whether Zita is more of a tiger or a lion.
She is just a huge cheerful kitten, playful and sociable,” Olga said. The ligress looks like her tigress mother with clear tiger stripes, but she also has much from her father’s looks, the color and some other typical features of a lion, Olga told RIA Novosti.
The ligress is currently getting used to her new open-air enclosure and getting to know the world around her. This is her first experience of this kind, because from birth she was kept indoors in a zoo building. Now she will live among other big cats, with a leopard as her nearest neighbour. Zita’s brother lives in another Siberian zoo with his parents. He has lived there since he was born and the zoo authorities are not yet planning to move him anywhere. He is in good health and is getting ready to meet the zoo’s visitors, RIA Novosti added.
The birth of the two liger cubs last summer was a unique case. “This was not the result of a scientific experiment,” RIA Novosti quoted zoo director Rostislav Shilo as saying at the time. “It’s just that the lion and the tiger live in neighboring caves in the Novosibirsk zoo, and got used to each other. It’s practically impossible in the wild.”
I think you are totally wronge for keeping that beautiful creature in such and little cage you should really set him free or build him a bigger habitat. He or she is a beautiful animal and should not be kept in captivity. I wouldn’t mind haveing comments on this matter emailed to me.
wat do ligers eat in the wild
These animals are so unique! I want one… how do I get one?
Wow this is totally awesome…… like this… this is nice and can’t believe hehe
but why is liger showing more phenotype of lion than tiger. and theres a question tht won’t the liger become a prey of lion or tiger if they are released to jungles???????????????
and the sadest thing is liger isnt fertile offspring.