Ligers and Tigons

A liger is the result of breeding a male lion to a tigress.Since lions and tigers do NOT exist in the same areas,

this is NOT something that happens in the wild.It is ALWAYS done in captivity by irresponsible breeders

to produce a freak animal that people will pay to see.These cats suffer from many, many birth defects and almost always die young.Because liger cubs are much bigger than tiger cubs, it puts the mother tigress at great risk in carrying the young and she may require C-section deliveries.  The tigress usually dies giving birth to a liger.Lion-tiger mating ONLY occurs in captivity, but it does NOT happen in the wild, probably for the same reason humans do not breedwith gorillas or chimps. Crossing the species line does NOT occur in the wild, because it would result in diminished fitness of the offspring. Geography is another obstacle to natural tiger-lion mating.Wild tigers mainly live in Asia, but the lion's natural habitat is almost entirely in Africa.

The Gir National Forest in India is the only place in the world where tiger and lion territories overlap, making people think that wild ligers roamed the area hundreds of years ago. This would be highly improbable, because the Gir forest is really very dry and not good tiger habitat. A tigon is the product of a male tiger and female lion and is not the same thing as a liger. Tigons receive growth inhibitor genes from both parents and so are smaller than either of them. They show much the same coloration of ligers except they sometimes have more prominent stripes. As with ligers, female tigons may be fertile whereas the males are sterile. Tigons have the same voices as liger, a sort of cross between tiger and lion. Tigons are now rarer than ligers, but in the late 1800's and early 1800s tigons were much more common.When the public stops paying to see these unfortunate creatures, the evil people (like "Doc" Antle) responsible for creating them will stop this inhumane practice. Please ask me for non- photoshopped liger photos and I will figure out a way to get them to you without giving away my email or other info.