2006-10-17 07:29:51 · 8 answers · asked by luan r 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
You get a Liger or Tigon - I quote -
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.
2006-10-18 00:22:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A liger. There are such things, except they are sterile and usually become giants. They can easily breed them beacause the Lion and the tiger are so close together, the effects may vary but check out this link which shows a picture of a liger:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Bertramliger.jpg
and
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/Ligertrainer.jpg.
2006-10-17 12:21:15 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
a male tiger + a female lion = a tigon
a female tiger + a male lion = a liger
hybrid animals are so fun : tigons, ligers, camas, wholphins, zedonks, zorses...
2006-10-17 09:01:22 · answer #3 · answered by kristin 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We might potentially be able to breed with some of the great apes. It's not likely to be possible with orang-utans - despite what Not Einstein Yet says, they are actually the most distantly related of the great apes to humans - or with gorillas, but bonobos and chimpanzees are very closely related to us, and it could well be possible with them. We are unrelated to bears other than us both being mammals - we certainly couldn't breed with them. Animals have to be in the same family to breed, and even then it isn't always possible.
2016-03-28 13:09:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You would get a tiger that does not tell the truth.
2006-10-17 18:09:47 · answer #5 · answered by shotie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You either get a Tigon or a Liger depending on which one is male.
2006-10-17 08:36:29 · answer #6 · answered by Mark G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's already been done, theyve already cross-bred them.
2006-10-17 09:14:35 · answer #7 · answered by sciencegeek 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
liger.
they are massive.
2006-10-18 09:12:07 · answer #8 · answered by sydney w 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋