One must have seen the majestic walk of the tiger in the jungle or the glorious presence of the lion in the African savanna which amazes us about their incredible size and imperial presence but ever thought that can there be any other cat more gigantic than these two which supersedes them in size and weight. The answer to this is “yes”, and there is “Liger” which is far bigger than a tiger or a lion.
Study shows that in general, the Siberian tiger is the biggest
big cat species that exist in the wild jungles of Russia but a Liger is even
bigger than that. Ligers & Tigons, in general, are the results of
crossbreeding between a tiger and a lion. A Liger is born on mating between a
male lion and a female tiger while on the other hand, Tigon has a male tiger
father and a lioness mother.
These Ligers and Tigons have been developed
through human efforts itself as the two breeds- tiger and lion have a very
distinct natural habitat and millions of years of evolution have made the two cat
breeds very contrasting from each other. While the African lion is found in
grasslands of the African savanna, tigers are found in dense regions of Asia. In wild these two breeds have
existence far away from each other and their behavior, breeding patterns, and
other activities are quite different from each other.
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| Liger Image Source- Google | Image by - flickr |
In general, lions are very social, living in big pride with even members
recorded far more than 50 in some cases.
These live and hunt in groups which are generally guarded by one or more male
member of the family. Females are the main ones which hunt and provide food
while the males take their toll in the form of food for providing shelter and
protection.
Tigers on the other hand are not very social and generally
live in isolation. Females and males are seen to come close only during the
mating season. Generally a tigress is seen to accompany its cubs till the age
of 1.5-2 years after which they are separated and live their isolated life on
their own. The male accompanies only till the mating is complete after which
both the male and the female part their ways.
Ligers and Tigons although both are a result of
crossbreeding between a tiger and a
lion, yet both are very different from each other. As a Liger is an offspring
of a male lion and a female tiger, the size of a liger is even bigger than both
its parents.This is because in the lion pride, all the females mate with not a
single male but many depending on the pride size.
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| Liger Image Source- Google | Image by - flickr |
In some cases, even 6 males
are found in the same pride and they mate with all the females in the pride.
Due to this reason in male lions, their genes carry a dominating trait so that
particular male cubs have more chances of survival and is bigger and dominating
in the pride when it is born. Every male lion wants to carry his particular
gene trait into the next generation of cubs thereby having genes which
promote enhanced size and traits.
While in the tiger family, female mates
with a single mate in a breeding cycle due to which female does not have a gene
characteristic which would inhibit the dominating trait of lion gene. This results
in the gigantic size of the Ligers.
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| Tigon Image Source- Google | Image by - commons.wikimedia |
In the case of Tigons , a gene from male tiger missing the
dominating trait is subdued by the lioness’s gene and hence tigons are usually smaller in size than both its parent tiger and
mother lion.These Ligers and Tigons are only the result of human efforts
through captive breeding of tiger and lion in the zoo or protected environments
as it is not possible for the two breeds to mate and produce offsprings in the
wild. It is a result of controlled breeding and research experimentation in
order to protect the two breeds from extinction in future.
But these efforts have not turned out to be very successful
as most of the Ligers and Tigons have been born in captivity and they lack
skills which are needed to be a predator in the wild. Ligers on the other hand
have another issue which is because of
their immense size which does not allow them to hunt efficienly in the wild.
Furthermore
the life span of the ligers and tigons is expected to be less and more
susceptible to diseases such as muscle pain, joint failures , and many more
while these can only be protected in captivity. It is estimated that in total 17 ligers are present today in captivity and around 80-100 tigons are present in the world.
Although we have explored and discovered new ways and have
gone a level up in the field of genome conservation of these endangered species,
still a lot has yet to be figured out which would reveal majestic lives of
these incredible creatures of the nature.