Re: It's the Wednesday Quiz - 23 Feb '11
Fact - The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion (Panthera leo) and a tigress (Panthera tigris). Thus, it has parents with the same genus but of different species. It is distinct from the similar hybrid tiglon. It is the largest of all known cats and extant felines.[citation needed]
Ligers enjoy swimming which is a characteristic of tigers and are very sociable like lions but are more likely to live past birth than tiglons. However ligers may inherit health or behavioural issues due to conflicting inherited traits, but this depends on the genetic traits of the parents. Ligers exist only in captivity because the habitat of the parental species do not overlap in the wild. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species.
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