Liger
Ligers are hybrids that result from crossing a male lion ( Panthera leo ) and a female tiger ( Panthera tigris ). There is no scientific name of the mixed form, one possible name is Panthera leo × tigris . The term "Liger" is a box word that is derived from the names of the parent animals. The biological equivalent of the Liger is the Töwe (Tigon), the offspring of a male tiger and a lion is.
Ligers are not found in the wild, but are bred in captivity. Male animals are sterile so that reproduction is not possible, which is why ligers are not a separate species . In terms of appearance and behavior, they have both lion and tiger characteristics. What is striking about Ligers is their size, which puts them in line with the largest cat species in the history of the earth and which also exceeds that of other big cat hybrids.
description
Dimensions
Ligers reach a total length of 3 to 3.5 meters, making them the size of very large Siberian tiger males . Their weight can exceed 350 kilograms. This means that ligers are sometimes heavier than their parents: in individual cases (especially in captivity) male lions or tigers can weigh more than 300 kilograms, but still lag behind the maximum body weight of a liger.
If one uses extinct big cats for comparison, the liger is comparable to the American lion , the Mosbacher lion or the saber-toothed cat Smilodon populator . The weight of the latter is estimated at 220-360 kilograms. The Guinness Book of Records recognizes the Liger Hercules as the largest cat in the world with a height of 3.3 meters and a weight of over 400 kilograms. The largest credibly traditional value for the total length of a Siberian tiger is 350 cm over curves (measured over all body curves ). The animal was shot in northeast China in 1943.
Appearance
The appearance of individual ligers can differ greatly from one another and reflects different characteristics of the parent species. Some of the male ligers have a mane that is weaker than that of lions and starts higher in the forehead. Sometimes male ligers have no mane at all. Other ligers have whiskers like tigers.
The basic color of the fur is either sand-colored like the lion or orange like the tiger. The fur is streaked with light stripes, which are particularly pronounced on the back of the body. In addition, the stripes can partially merge into spots. The light peritoneum of the ligers comes from the tiger side. They have a black tip of the tail, but usually the tassel of a lion is missing.
behavior
Ligers display both lion and tiger behavior. Occasionally there are contradictions due to the different lifestyles of the two types of parents.
Lions live in packs, while tigers are solitary animals. Especially with female leagues, there is therefore a conflict between either being a socially integrated member of a group or being isolated. In contrast to lions, ligers like to swim and thus adopt a preference from tigers. The hybrid can articulate itself in the form of either parent species, roaring like a lion or making "puff" sounds like a tiger.
As with all hybrid species, the behavior of the young animal, if it is based on the type of the father, can cause stress in the mother in individual cases.
Hybrid formation
Ligers are not found in the wild because their parent species' natural habitats do not currently overlap. This also applies to the Asiatic lion and Bengal tiger subspecies , both of which are found in India. Descriptions of wild cats that might apply to ligers have existed for centuries. However, there is no evidence for the existence of ligers outside of human habitation, although lions and tigers each inhabited significantly larger ranges in the past, so that at least the external conditions for a meeting in the wild were given. Because of the different social behavior of the two species, mating would be more difficult if they met by chance in nature.
In captivity, the large cats' instinct to reproduce can mean that they are more willing to mate with alien individuals.
breed
The hybrid formation of big cats in zoos or circuses is partly due to ignorance. Since the 19th century, the formation of ligers has also been carried out according to plan in order to attract attractions. Carl Hagenbeck bred several big cat hybrids for his animal show .
Crossing lions and tigers is not without risk, as both the offspring and the mother can be harmed. Ligers are more likely to develop birth defects and die early. The size of the liger babies can be dangerous to the tigress at birth and may require a caesarean section .
Much like white lions and tigers, ligers bring visitors to zoos and animal parks. From the standpoint of species conservation, however, breeding such special forms does not make sense. Several big cat subspecies are threatened with extinction, so the resources of zoos and the lions and tigers kept there are required to reproduce these species.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Description of ligers on Bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net
- ↑ a b c d Description of ligers on Lairweb.org.nz
- ↑ a b Vratislav Mazák : The tiger. 5th edition, unchanged edition from 1983. Westarp Sciences, 2004, ISBN 3-89432-759-6 .
- ↑ Per Christiansen, John M. Harris: Body Size of Smilodon (Mammalia: Felidae) . In: Journal of Morphology. Volume 266 (2005). Pp. 369-384
- ↑ Jungle Island website ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Explanations on the breeding and reproduction of ligers on Lairweb.org.nz
- ↑ Bigcatrescue.org, which is critical of the breeding of ligers
Web links
- Lairweb.org.nz (English)
- Bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net