The Liger Sleeps Tonight?

On the other hand, there are no barriers to creating animal-animal hybrids . . .

Liger

This is a picture of a liger–a cross between a lion and a tiger.

Here’s a story about ligers from the Moscow News:

Tiger Mates With Lion, Gives Birth to “Liger” Cub in Siberian Zoo

Created: 06.12.2004 14:19 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:48 MSK

MosNews

In what local zoologists are calling a miracle, a Bengalese tiger has given birth to a healthy tiger-lion cub at a Novosibirsk zoo.

The cub is a cross between the female Bengalese tiger and an African lion. The animal resembled a lion cub except that it had stripes, and has been dubbed a “liger”, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.

“This was not the result of a scientific experiment,” Novosti quoted zoo director Rostislav Shilo as saying. “It’s just that the lion and the tiger live in neighboring caves in the Novosibirsk zoo, and got used to each other. It’s practically impossible in the wild.”

Shilo said that the “miracle cub” was christened Zita, and will remain in the zoo. But what will happen to the cub in the future, “no one can say”.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

27 thoughts on “The Liger Sleeps Tonight?”

  1. Despite this being published in the Moscow News (the Garden of Eden was just outside Moscow; it must have made Adam and Eve very sorry to leave it), this does not appear to be a hoax.
    HERE’S AN ARTICLE ON LIGERS.
    (Note the hyperlinks to pages at animal preserves at the bottom.)
    AND ONE WILL NOTE THAT SEVERAL REPUTABLE DICTIONARIES LIST THEM.
    I should note that the picture above is not the liger that was bred in Siberia (which is female and thus does not have a mane).
    INSTEAD, IT’S A MALE NAMED PATRICK WHO LIVES IN THE SHAMBALLAH PRESERVE

  2. felines seem to be pretty much one species, in spite of what the neo-darwinists want to say.
    They do have ‘cultural’ differences that get in the way sometimes, but not always!

  3. I remember reading about this possibility years ago, so, while unusual, I don’t think this is a first. I believe there can also be a “tigon”, which I guess would the be the cross between a male tiger and a female lion.
    You wouldn’t see it in the wild because basically lions and tigers don’t live in the same places in the wild.

  4. I remember reading about this possibility years ago, so, while unusual, I don’t think this is a first. I believe there can also be a “tigon”, which I guess would the be the cross between a male tiger and a female lion.
    I believe the term is “tigron,” although I could be mistaken. I remember reading about them in elementary or middle school, so it’s been quite a while.
    [quote]You wouldn’t see it in the wild because basically lions and tigers don’t live in the same places in the wild.[/quote]
    True — lions are African, tigers are Asian. And despite the lion’s claim to being “king of the jungle,” tigers are larger animals.

  5. Oops, my bad — “tigon” is quite correct. And contrary to what I stated above there are Asiatic lions, although very few in number today.
    Ligers tend to be larger than tigers, tigons smaller than lions.

  6. I’ve also heard of a “leopon”…male leopard and female lion hybrid. Saw a picture in one of those animal books for kids. It was basically a large, maned leopard.

  7. I heard about the liger on the news. I’m a second grade teacher in Illinois and I thought that my children would love to hear about the liger. I will see just how interested my children are with the liger and they could do some research on them and then write a creative story about the liger’s adventures.

  8. DO you know if any Ligers are located in any zoos closer to Connecticut? I am an elementary school teacher and I would love to take my children to visit one. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

  9. Hey me and my class mates and my science techer are wondering about these amazing creature’s!We were wonder if any of them live in maine or if they dont what are the places that they do live in?If u could could u try to send me some info on them because we just think they are sooo cool.I look forward to hearing from u soon!Pleas write back!!buh byez!

  10. Hey me and my class mates and my science techer are wondering about these amazing creature’s!We were wonder if any of them live in maine or if they dont what are the places that they do live in?If u could could u try to send me some info on them because we just think they are sooo cool.I look forward to hearing from u soon!Pleas write back!!buh byez!

  11. I am looking for a zoo with Ligers in the New York area. Any helpful links? Thanks!!

  12. I hate to be pessimistic, but what kind of credibility does this piece have. This is not professional journalism style writing. Simply saying it’s from “Moscow News” later abreviated into “Mosnews” doesn’t sound legit. Zoo Directors do not start their only public quotation with “It’s just that..” and conclude with “…got used to each other”. I’m not saying this isn’t possible, I think it’s interesting. I have trouble trusting this source.

  13. LIGERS ROCK.strait outta the napoleon movie.u rock liger.and so does the tigon and Ti-ligers and Ti-tigon.

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  15. I was a non beleiver in ligers at first but i went online and did some resaerch on them.and they rock Watch out dad theres a new king of the jungle LIGER

  16. why would you WANT to see a liger? you know how horrible it is to breed them? most of them die due to genetic defects because it’s just not natural. they get confused because their tiger and lion instincts go against each other. it’s you people who want to pay to go see ligers and tigons that keep this breeding in business. think about it

  17. Horrible to breed them? Perhaps we should consult the pairs that’ve bred in the wild about their experience. I would feel more comfortable with their sense of what’s “natural” than your unsubstantiated “segregationist” views. Can you be more specific about their purported confusion between their tiger and lion instincts?

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