6 Comments so far

1. Leolupus Had this To Say

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   A liger is the offspring of a male lion and female tiger, whilst a tigon is the offspring of a male tiger and female lion. These hybrids do not exist in the wild – they are created in captivity by housing a lion and tiger together, often from a young age, so that when the female comes into season they will mate.
   Ligers tend towards gigantism and are usually larger than either of their parents, whilst tigons are generally smaller or at least no larger than their parents. Ligers resemble lions in colour, being predominantly tawny, but they have faint, tiger-like stripes. Tigons are often darker in colour, more closely resembling tigers. The faces of both can be quite strangely shaped, somewhere between a lion and a tiger, and males often have a small ruff of fur around the neck, rather like the mane of an adolescent male lion. This is variable, though, and tends to be more common in ligers than in tigons.
   Like most hybrids, ligers and tigons are usually sterile. However, whilst there is no record of fertile males, occasionally a female will be fertile 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
   Note that reputable zoos frown on the breeding of hybrids like ligers and tigons as they have no value from a conservation point of view, and are taking up space and resources that could be used to breed endangered species. They are basically freaks bred to make money out of those people willing to pay to see them.
   Liger image:http://www.liger.org/images/liger-pic.jp…
   Tigon image:http://www.geocities.com/pride_lands/noe…

2. surojabu Had this To Say

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   The Liger is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. A liger looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes. They are much larger than either parent because the growth inhibitor gene comes from the female lion (so it’s missing in a liger).
   A Tigon is a cross between a male tiger and a female lion. Tigons can exhibit characteristics of both parents: they can have spots from the mother (lions carry genes for spots – lion cubs are spotted) and stripes from the father and they are normally smaller than either of their parents because the growth inhibitor gene is in both parents.
   It’s uncommon and only happens in captivity because Lions and Tigers would not ordinarily cohabitate in the wild. If found in the same geographical area, they would be competitors and would naturally not breed. Even in captivity, it’s rare because the mating habits of both are incompatible. They are usually forced upon each other by their human captors and that’s why they mate. Both types of hybrids would be sterile. Maybe that’s nature’s way of keeping an unsuitable animal from being able to breed.

3. Heather H Had this To Say

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   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger
   The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion (Panthera leo) and a tigress (Panthera tigris)..
   …Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to huge liger size. These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally-inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally “counteracted” by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed.
   The tiger produces a hormone that sets the fetal liger on a pattern of growth that does not end throughout its life. The hormonal hypothesis is that the cause of the male liger’s growth is its sterility — essentially, the male liger remains in the pre-pubertal growth phase. Male ligers also have the same levels of testosterone on average as an adult male lion. In addition, female ligers also attain great size, weighing approximately 700 lb (320 kg) and reaching 10 feet (3.05 m) long on average, and are often fertile…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon
   A tigon or tigron is a hybrid cross between a male tiger (Panthera tigris) and a female lioness (Panthera leo)…
   …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…
   more liger infohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zOWYj59B…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqwLmkd8f…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAnaWU3R6…http://www.myrtlebeachsafari.com/gallery…http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/ligers.h…http://www.bigcatrescue.org/cats/wild/li…http://www.liger.org/http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/tigons.h…

4. PaulCyp Had this To Say

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   I forget which is which, but in one of them the tiger is the male, in the other the tiger is the female.

5. þï×èl冀d Mµ¢h? Had this To Say

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   A Liger is a Male Lion Female Tiger breed, over 3 m (10 feet) long, it can reach speeds of up to 80 km/ph (50 mph) :/ Wow.
   The Tigon is a Male Tiger Female Lion breed and is smaller.

6. Professor Snugglesworth Had this To Say

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   Liger: Male lion and female tiger
   Tigon: Male tiger and female lion
   Bonus: Tigon are sometimes known as Tiglons
   Just remember: the male one makes the first part of the word.