Liger - DAMN big kitty !!

[Bunker65]

I saw this in another forum & had to share it here. This is one big ass animal :eek::

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=338009&in_page_id=1770

"He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creation from Hollywood.

But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves every time he opens his gigantic mouth to roar.

Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one, standing 10ft tall on his back legs.

Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is the largest of all the cat species.

On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting.

At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton. When he is fully grown he is expected to reach 12ft, and almost 90 stone.

He is the accidental result of two amorous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami, Florida, and already dwarfs both his parents.

"Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute owner Dr Bhagavan Antle.

"We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then lo and behold we had a liger."

50mph runner

Hercules has the strength of a lion and the speed of a tiger, reaching 50mph.

He will also grow a mane like his father, but just a small one, and sports his mother's tiger stripes on his huge body. And when he opens his fearsome mouth he can both roar like a lion and give a purr-like snort like his mother.

Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions.

In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia.

But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II.

Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother.

Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.

Famous cross-breeds


There are hundreds of hybrids in the animal world, some common such as the mule - a cross between a female horse and a male donkey - and some more unusual, such as the labradoodle, a mix of labrador and poodle.

Other exotic hybrids include the zeedonk, a cross between a zebra and a donkey; the zorse or zebroid, a zebra/horse cross; and the beefalo, an American bison/ domestic cow cross.

Another rare creature is the wolphin, the offspring of a whale and a dolphin.

Back in the big cat world zoos in Japan, Germany and Italy have bred leopons, a male leopard/lioness cross, while Salzburg Zoo in Austria has bred jaguar/leopard hybrids known as lepjags."

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8932/bigfriggingcatjb7dd2.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bigfriggingcatjb7dd2.jpg) http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/103/ligeruy1.th.png (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ligeruy1.png) http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9799/liger1am3.th.png (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=liger1am3.png)

I wouldn't want to have to clean up the kitty box or the hair balls after this kitty :D !!!

[p2501]

gorgeous animal. i wonder which tempermant he inheireted.

[MikePizzoff]

gorgeous animal. i wonder which tempermant he inheireted.

KNOWN FOR IT'S SKILLS IN MAGIC!

[p2501]

yeha, i kinda walked into that.........

[mista_mo]

I thought it was genetically impossible for two species to inter breed? seems like a scam to me...

[Danny]

"two species cant interbreed?"

im sure i aint the only one who said "huh?" at this, of course they can where do cross breeds come from the clues in the name:lol: look up zorses as well for more info, courtesy of brandon dicomillo.

and ive actually seen a liger that was almost twice the size of that one and it was almost a giant rectangel with a head and tail those things get massive.

[MinionZombie]

lol, I was soooooo gonna post the same thing. Nappy D rocks! :thumbsup:

[Kaos]

I thought it was genetically impossible for two species to inter breed? seems like a scam to me...

The most common example of interspecies breeding is the mule.

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

Check this link out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid

[mista_mo]

I know about the mule, but I was always told that due to the genetic differences in various species, cross breeding can't happen.

[Adrenochrome]

but I was always told that due to the genetic differences in various species, cross breeding can't happen.
you're right, if it's a turtle and a horse (reptile and equine) that you're trying to cross-breed....but in the case of the "Liger" (feline) and "mule"(equine) and others' similar, they are the same species.
Now, you CANNOT cross a Human with Anything.

[mista_mo]

ahh yes, thats what I ment. Thank you for that Andreno

[Eyebiter]

Wasn't this in NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE?

[Kaos]

you're right, if it's a turtle and a horse (reptile and equine) that you're trying to cross-breed....but in the case of the "Liger" (feline) and "mule"(equine) and others' similar, they are the same species.
Now, you CANNOT cross a Human with Anything.
I disagree:

The horse and donkey are different Species of the same Genus. They have different numbers of chromosomes.

The scientific name for a horse is Equus caballus.

The scientific name for a donkey is Equus asinus.

When animals are given a scientific name it is two to three words which are comprised of it's genus followed by species. The convention also requires the capitalization of the first letter of the Genus and the rest of the name is in lower case.

Genus Equus
Species caballus

In the case of lions (Panthera leo) and tigers (Panthera tigris) they are both of the same genus although definitely different species.

Animals can interbreed even though they are of different species albeit of the same genus. It isn't always successful, and when it is the offspring can be sterile. (such as in the case of mules)

Humans are Homo sapiens. If there were other animals of the Genus Homo still around then it would be possible for us to interbreed.

(Jokes about the use of the word Homo in this post by anyone will likely result in a couple of warning points, so please refrain. :))

[EvilNed]

One way of determining if a species is infact two different species (like, say if you wanted to see if panters and jaguars were two different species) is to have them crossbreed. If they produce a fertile offspring, the parents belong to the same species. But if they produce infertile offsprings, then they're just crossbreeding.

[Danny]

ew.

but seriously, corssing a turtle and a horse, now that would be freaky.:lol:

[EvilNed]

There's a game that allows you to do that. It's called Impossible Creatures.

[Purge]

That's one big pussy. :eek:

[Danny]

it was only a matter of time.:rolleyes:

[Purge]

Oops--make that two big pussies.

Just kiddin', Hellsing. :p :clown:

[Danny]

i dont care ,joke or not, when someone does an insult rather than scathing sarcasm then you got an honest son of a bitch right thar, and that gets you some rep man!:lol: