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For other uses, see Liger (disambiguation).
Liger

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera

The Liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger (i. Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands The diverse order Carnivora (kɑrˈnɪvərə or sometimes /ˌkɑrnɪˈvɔərə/ from Latin carō (stem carn-) "flesh" + vorāre Felidae is the biological family of the cats a member of this family is called a felid. Panthera is a Genus of the family Felidae (the cats which contains four well-known living Species: the Tiger, the In Biology, hybrid has two meanings The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa. A crossbreed or crossbred usually refers to an animal with Purebred parents of two different breeds varieties or populations The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. The tiger ( Panthera tigris) is a member of the Felidae family the largest and the most powerful of the four " Big cats quot in the Genus 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. The Siberian tiger ( Panthera tigris altaica) also known as the Amur tiger, Manchurian tiger, or Ussuri tiger, is a rare Subspecies A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to 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. Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. Female (♀ is the Sex of an Organism, or a part of an organism which produces ova (egg cells A tigon or tigron is a hybrid cross between a male Tiger and a female Lion.

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. The Asiatic Lion ( Panthera leo persica) is a subspecies of the Lion which survives today only in India where it is also known as the Indian lion 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. Population distribution redirects here For the probability distribution of a statistical population see Probability distribution and Statistical population [4]

Contents

History

Documentation of ligers dates to at least the early 19th century in Asia. A painting of two liger cubs was made by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772−1844). Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire ( April 15, 1772 - June 19, 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle In 1825, G. B. Whittaker made an engraving of liger cubs born in 1824. The parents and their three liger offspring are also depicted with their trainer in a 19th Century painting in the naïve style.

Two liger cubs born in 1837 were exhibited to William IV and to his successor Victoria. William IV (William Henry 21 August 1765 &ndash 20 June 1837 was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland On 14 December 1900 and on 31 May 1901, Carl Hagenbeck wrote to zoologist James Cossar Ewart with details and photographs of ligers born at the Hagenbeck's Tierpark in Hamburg in 1897. Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great (19th dynasty becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Carl Hagenbeck ( June 10, 1844 - April 14, 1913) was a merchant of Wild animals who supplied many European Zoos as well James Cossar Ewart ( November 26, 1851 &ndash December 31, 1933) was a Scottish Zoologist. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany

In Animal Life and the World of Nature (1902–1903), A. H. Bryden described Hagenbeck's "lion-tiger" hybrids:

It has remained for one of the most enterprising collectors and naturalists of our time, Mr Carl Hagenbeck, not only to breed, but to bring successfully to a healthy maturity, specimens of this rare alliance between those two great and formidable felidae, the lion and tiger. The illustrations will indicate sufficiently how fortunate Mr Hagenbeck has been in his efforts to produce these hybrids. The oldest and biggest of the animals shown is a hybrid born on the 11th May, 1897. This fine beast, now more than five years old, equals and even excels in his proportions a well-grown lion, measuring as he does from nose tip to tail 10 ft 2 inches in length, and standing only three inches less than 4 ft at the shoulder. A good big lion will weigh about 400 lb [. . . ] the hybrid in question, weighing as it does no less than 467 lb, is certainly the superior of the most well-grown lions, whether wild-bred or born in a menagerie. This animal shows faint striping and mottling, and, in its characteristics, exhibits strong traces of both its parents. It has a somewhat lion-like head, and the tail is more like that of a lion than of a tiger. On the other hand, it has no trace of mane. It is a huge and very powerful beast. [5]

In 1935, four ligers from two litters were reared in the Zoological Gardens of Bloemfontein, South Africa. Bloemfontein (ˈbluːmfɒnteɪn Afrikaans and Dutch for "spring of Bloem (bloom" The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Three of them, a male and two females, were still living in 1953. The male weighed 750 lb. and stood a foot and a half taller than a full grown male lion at the shoulder.

Although ligers are more commonly found than tigons today, in At Home In The Zoo (1961), Gerald Iles wrote "For the record I must say that I have never seen a liger, a hybrid obtained by crossing a lion with a tigress. A tigon or tigron is a hybrid cross between a male Tiger and a female Lion. They seem to be even rarer than tigons. "[6]

Size and growth

Imprinted genes may be a factor contributing to liger size. Genomic imprinting is a genetic phenomenon by which certain Genes are expressed in a Parent -of-origin-specific manner [7] 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. [8]

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.

Hercules the liger and his trainer
Hercules the liger and his trainer

Hercules and Sinbad

Jungle Island in Miami is home to a liger named Hercules, the largest non-obese liger, said to weigh over 900 lbs, over twice the size of a male lion. Jungle Island is an animal theme park in the city of Miami, Florida. Hercules was also featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, Inside Edition and in a Maxim magazine article in 2005, when he was only 3 years old and already weighed 408. Today, also referred to as The Today Show, is an American morning news and talk show airing weekday mornings on NBC. Good Morning America ( GMA) is a morning news show that is broadcast on the ABC television network debuting on November Anderson Cooper 360° (commonly shortened to either AC-360 or 360) is a two-hour television news show on CNN, the first hour usually Inside Edition is a syndicated news program on the air since January 9, 1989. Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its revealing pictorials featuring popular Actresses 25 kg (900 lb) at the time. The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States #) is a unit of Mass The liger is the largest animal in the cat family (feline family Felidae);[9][10] and Hercules was in the Book of World Records as the largest cat. Felidae is the biological family of the cats a member of this family is called a felid. Hercules seems completely healthy and is expected to live a long life. The cat's breeding is said to have been a complete accident. Sinbad, another Liger, was shown on the National Geographic Channel. Sinbad was reported to have the exact weight of Hercules.

Longevity

Shasta, a ligress (female liger) was born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on May 14th, 1948 and died in 1972 at age 24. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The 1973 Guinness world records reported an 18-year-old, 798-kg (1756 lb) male liger living at Bloemfontein zoological gardens, South Africa, in 1888. Valley of the Kings animal sanctuary in Wisconsin had a male liger named Nook who weighed around 550 kg (1210 lb), and passed away in 2007, at 21-years-old. Wisconsin ( or wɪˈskɑnsɨn (French Ouisconsin) is one of the fifty United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States

Fertility

While male ligers are sterile, female ligers can usually reproduce. Because only female ligers and tigons are fertile, a liger cannot reproduce with another liger or with a tigon.

The fertility of hybrid big cat females is well-documented across a number of different hybrids. This is in accordance with Haldane's rule: in hybrids of animals whose gender is determined by sex chromosomes, if one gender is absent, rare or sterile, it is the heterogametic sex (the one with two different sex chromosomes e. Haldane's rule relating to hybrids of Species and extended to Speciation in Evolutionary theory is easily stated When in the offspring of A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an Organism. g. X and Y). The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining Chromosomes in many animal species including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome) The Y chromosome is the sex-determining Chromosome in most Mammals including Humans In mammals it contains the gene SRY, which triggers

According to Wild Cats of the World (1975) by C. A. W. Guggisberg, ligers and tigons were long thought to be sterile: In 1943, however, a fifteen-year-old hybrid between a lion and an 'Island' tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the Munich Hellabrunn Zoo. Tierpark Hellabrunn is the name of the Zoological garden in the Bavarian capital Munich. The female cub, although of delicate health, was raised to adulthood. [11]

Colors

Ligers have a tiger-like striping pattern on a lion-like tawny background. In addition they may inherit rosettes from the lion parent (lion cubs are rosetted and some adults retain faint markings). A rosette is a Rose -like marking or formation which is found in clusters and patches on the Fur of Leopards, Jaguars and other These markings may be black, dark brown or sandy. The background color may be correspondingly tawny, sandy or golden. In common with tigers, their underparts are pale. The actual pattern and color depends on which subspecies the parents were and on the way in which the genes interact in the offspring.

White tigers have been crossed with lions to produce "white" (actually pale golden) ligers. A white tiger ( Panthera tigris) is a Tiger with a genetic condition that nearly eliminates pigment in the normally orange fur although they still In theory white tigers could be crossed with white lions to produce white, very pale or even stripeless ligers. A black liger would require both a melanistic tiger and a melanistic lion as parents. Melanism μέλας is an increased amount of black or nearly black Pigmentation (as of Skin, Feathers or Hair) of an organism resulting from Very few melanistic tigers have ever been recorded, most being due to excessive markings (pseudo-melanism or abundism) rather than true melanism. A black tiger is a rare color variant of the Tiger and is not a distinct Species or geographic Subspecies. Melanism μέλας is an increased amount of black or nearly black Pigmentation (as of Skin, Feathers or Hair) of an organism resulting from No reports of black lions have ever been substantiated. A hypothetical procedure to breed black ligers is explained here. The blue or Maltese Tiger is now unlikely to exist, making grey or blue ligers an impossibility. The Maltese tiger, or blue tiger, is a suspected coloration morph of a Tiger, reported mostly from the Fujian Province of China. It is not impossible for a liger to be white, but it is very rare.

Zoo policies

According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, accredited zoos frown on the practice of mixing two different species and have never bred ligers. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( AZA; previously American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and originally American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Keeping the two species separate has always been standard procedure. [12] However they have admitted that ligers have occurred by accident. Several AZA zoos are reported to have ligers. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( AZA; previously American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and originally American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums

Ligers in popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ A. A. Milne (December 1927). A tigon or tigron is a hybrid cross between a male Tiger and a female Lion. The four living species of Panthera genus ( Panthera leo ( Lion) Panthera onca ( Jaguar) Panthera pardus ( Leopard) A leopon is the result of breeding a male Leopard with a female Lion. Alan Alexander Milne (ˈmɪln (18 January 1882 &ndash 31 January 1956 was an English Author, best known for his Books about the Teddy bear "Tiggers Can't Climb Trees". The London Magazine 59 (206).  
  2. ^ (1980) in Nicholas Courtney, ed. : The Tiger, Symbol of Freedom. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 0704322455.  
  3. ^ Valmik Thapar: Im Land des Tigers. Vgs Verlagsges. (1998). ISBN 3802513703
  4. ^ Ronald Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo
  5. ^ Bryden, A. H. (contributor). "Animal Life and the World of Nature" (1902-1903, bound partwork).
  6. ^ Iles, G. At Home In The Zoo (1961).
  7. ^ Growth dysplasia in hybrid big cats. Retrieved on June 23, 2006.
  8. ^ Howard Hughes Medical Institute (30 April, 2000). The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI is a United States Non-profit medical Research institute based in Chevy Chase Maryland HHMI News: Gene Tug-of-War Leads to Distinct Species. Retrieved on June 23, 2006.
  9. ^ FoundationTV:Biggest Cat In the World. Retrieved on August 6, 2006.
  10. ^ Sierra Safari Zoo:Liger. Retrieved on August 6, 2006.
  11. ^ Guggisberg, C. A. W. "Wild Cats of the World" (1975).
  12. ^ BigCatRescue. Ligers.. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.

Further reading

External links

This article incorporates text from messybeast.com, which is released under the GFDL. The GNU Free Documentation License ( GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a Copyleft License for free documentation designed by the Free Software

Dictionary

liger

-noun

  1. An animal born to a male lion and a tigress.
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