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{{Short description|Lion and tigress hybrid}}
{{other uses}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{hybridbox
| name = Liger
| image = Liger couple.jpg
| image_caption = Female (left) and male ligers at [[Everland|Everland amusement park]] in South Korea
| genus = Panthera
| father = leo
| father_link = Lion
| mother = tigris
| mother_link = Tiger
}}
The '''liger''' is a [[hybrid (biology)|hybrid offspring]] of a male [[lion]] (''Panthera leo'') and a tigress, or female [[tiger]] (''Panthera tigris''). The liger has parents in the same [[genus]] but of different [[species]]. The liger is distinct from the opposite hybrid called the [[tigon]] (of a male tiger and a lioness), and is the largest of all known [[Extant taxon|extant]] [[Felidae|felids]].<ref name=Xixiaku>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13520472 |title=Liger cubs nursed by dog in China's Xixiakou Zoo |publisher=BBC News Asia-Pacific |date=24 May 2011 |access-date=25 May 2011}}</ref><ref name=ligerfacts2016>{{cite web |author=ligerfacts.org |title=''The Liger – Meet the World's Largest Cat'' |url=http://ligerfacts.org/ |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref> They enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons.<ref name=Xixiaku/><ref name=ligerfacts2016/><ref name=messybeast2012>[http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hyb-liger.htm Ligers]. ''messybeast.com''. Retrieved 4 September 2012.</ref>
==History==
The history of lion–tiger hybrids dates to at least the early 19th century in [[India]]. In 1798, [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]] (1772–1844) made a colour plate of the offspring of a lion and a tiger. The name "liger", a [[portmanteau]] of ''lion'' and ''tiger'', was coined by the 1930s.<ref>"When the sire is a lion the result is termed a Liger, whilst the converse is a Tigon." Edward George Boulenger, ''World Natural History'', B. T. Batsford ltd., 1937, p. 40.</ref> "Ligress" is used to refer to a female liger, on the model of "tigress".
In 1825, [[G. B. Whittaker]] made an engraving of liger cubs born in 1824.<ref name=messybeast2012/> The parents and their three liger offspring are also depicted with their trainer in a 19th-century painting in the [[Naïve art|naïve style]].
Two liger cubs born in 1837 were exhibited to King [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] and to his successor Queen [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]. On 14 December 1900 and on 31 May 1901, [[Carl Hagenbeck]] wrote to zoologist [[James Cossar Ewart]] with details and photographs of ligers born at the Hagenbeck's Tierpark in Hamburg in 1897.
In ''Animal Life and the World of Nature'' (1902–1903), A. H. Bryden described Hagenbeck's "lion-tiger" hybrids:
<blockquote>It has remained for one of the most enterprising collectors and naturalists of our time, Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, not only to breed but to bring successfully to a healthy maturity, specimens of this rare alliance between those two great and formidable Felidae, the lion and tiger. The illustrations will indicate sufficiently how fortunate Mr. Hagenbeck has been in his efforts to produce these hybrids. The oldest and biggest of the animals shown is a hybrid born on the 11th May 1897. This fine beast, now more than five years old, equals and even excels in his proportions a well-grown lion, measuring as he does from nose tip to tail 10 ft 2 inches in length, and standing only three inches less than 4 ft at the shoulder. A good big lion will weigh about 400 lb [...] the hybrid in question, weighing as it does no less than 467 lb, is certainly the superior of the most well-grown lions, whether wild-bred or born in a menagerie. This animal shows faint striping and mottling, and, in its characteristics, exhibits strong traces of both its parents. It has a somewhat lion-like head, and the tail is more like that of a lion than of a tiger. On the other hand, it has no trace of mane. It is a huge and very powerful beast.<ref>Bryden, A.H. (contributor). "Animal Life and the World of Nature" (1902–1903, bound partwork).</ref></blockquote>
In 1935, four ligers from two litters were reared in the Zoological Gardens of [[Bloemfontein]], South Africa. Three of them, a male and two females, were still living in 1953. The male weighed {{Convert|340|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} and stood a foot and a half (45 cm) taller than a full grown male lion at the shoulder.
In 1948, LIFE magazine pictured "Shasta," a liger conceived and born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City; its (future) parents had been rubbing noses through adjoining cage bars, and were permitted to cohabitate. The two-pound cub was "almost completely neglected by its mother, but the zoo's superintendent took it home and raised it, eventually returning it to the Zoo in a cage across from its parents' (separate) cages.<ref>"Liger." LIFE, 20 September 1948, 109.</ref>
Although ligers are more commonly found than tigons today, in ''At Home in the Zoo'' (1961), Gerald Iles wrote "For the record I must say that I have never seen a liger, a hybrid obtained by crossing a lion with a tigress. They seem to be even rarer than tigons."<ref>Iles, G. ''At Home in the Zoo'' (1961).</ref>
==Appearance==
[[File:1799-liger.jpg|thumb|Color plate of the offspring of a lion and tiger, [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]]]]
The liger has a faint tiger-like striped pattern upon a lionesque tawny background. In addition, it may inherit [[Rosette (zoology)|rosettes]] from the lion parent (lion cubs are rosetted and some adults retain faint markings). These markings may be black, dark brown or sandy. The background color may be correspondingly tawny, sandy or golden. In common with tigers, as an example of [[countershading]], the underparts are pale. The specific pattern and color depend upon which subspecies the parents were and how the genes interact in the offspring.
[[White tiger]]s have been crossed with lions to produce "white" (actually pale golden) ligers. In theory, white tigers could be crossed with [[white lion]]s to produce white, very pale or even stripeless ligers. There are no black ligers. Very few [[Black tiger (animal)|melanistic tigers]] have ever been recorded, most being due to excessive markings (pseudo-melanism or [[abundism]]) rather than true melanism; no reports of black lions have ever been substantiated. As blue or [[Maltese tiger]]s probably no longer exist, gray or blue ligers are exceedingly improbable. It is not impossible for a liger to be white, but it is very rare. The first known white ligers were born in December 2013 at Myrtle Beach Safari in [[Myrtle Beach, South Carolina]] to a white male lion and a white female tiger.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/404109-first-white-ligers/|title=First white ligers|publisher=[[Guinness World Records]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref>
==
The liger is often believed to be the largest cat in the world.<ref name=Xixiaku/> Males reach a total length of {{cvt|3|to|3.6|m}} and can reach a weight of 1100 pounds,<ref name="krypto">[http://bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net/artikel/liger-die-grosten-raubkatzen-der-welt/ Description of ligers at ''Bestiarium.kryptozoologie.net'']</ref><ref name="lair">[http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/ligers.html Description of ligers at ''Lairweb.org.nz'']</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=says |first=Paul |date=2012-09-06 |title=Liger - the largest cat in the world {{!}} DinoAnimals.com |url=https://dinoanimals.com/animals/liger-the-largest-cat-in-the-world/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=dinoanimals.com |language=en-US}}</ref> which means that they rival even large male lions and tigers in length.<ref name="Mazak">[[Vratislav Mazák]]: ''Der Tiger''. Westarp Wissenschaften; Auflage: 5 (April 2004), unveränd. Aufl. von 1983 {{ISBN|3-89432-759-6}}</ref> [[Genomic imprinting|Imprinted genes]] may be a factor contributing to the large size of ligers.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/growth-dysplasia.htm | title=Growth dysplasia in hybrid big cats | access-date=23 June 2006}}</ref> These are genes that may or may not be expressed on the parent they are inherited from, and that occasionally play a role in issues of hybrid growth. For example, in some dog breed crosses, genes that are expressed only when maternally-inherited cause the young to grow larger than is typical for either parent breed. This growth is not seen in the paternal breeds, as such genes are normally "counteracted" by genes inherited from the female of the appropriate breed.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hhmi.org/news/tilghman.html | title=HHMI News: Gene Tug-of-War Leads to Distinct Species | access-date=23 June 2006 | author=Howard Hughes Medical Institute | author-link=Howard Hughes Medical Institute | date=30 April 2000 | archive-date=28 March 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328144948/http://www.hhmi.org/news/tilghman.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Other [[big cat]] hybrids can reach similar sizes; the litigon, a rare hybrid of a male lion and a female tigon, is roughly the same size as the liger, with a male named Cubanacan (at the [[Alipore Zoo]] in India) reaching {{cvt|363|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hyb-tigon.htm |title=Tigon |publisher=messybeast.com |access-date=21 July 2010 }}</ref> The extreme rarity of these second-generation hybrids may make it difficult to ascertain whether they are larger or smaller, on average, than the liger.
It is sometimes wrongly believed that ligers continue to grow throughout their lives because of hormonal issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sodredge.tripod.com/liger.htm|title=Liger|website=sodredge.tripod.com|access-date=21 February 2020}}</ref> It may be that they simply grow far more during their growing years and take longer to reach their full adult size. Further growth in shoulder height and body length is not seen in ligers over six years old, as in both lions and tigers. Male ligers also have the same levels of [[testosterone]] on average as an adult male lion, yet are [[Azoospermia|azoospermic]] in accordance with [[Haldane's rule]].<!--Hagenbeck --> In addition, female ligers may also attain great size, weighing approximately {{cvt|320|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} and reaching {{cvt|3.05|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long on average, and are often fertile. In contrast, [[pumapard]]s (hybrids between [[Cougar|pumas]] and [[leopard]]s) tend to exhibit [[dwarfism]].
Ligers are about the same size as the prehistoric ''[[Smilodon|Smilodon populator]]'' and [[American lion]].
===Records===
[[File:Ligertrainer.jpg|thumb|Hercules the liger and his trainer [[Bhagavan Antle]]]]
Hercules, the largest non-obese liger, is recognised by the ''[[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of World Records]]'' as the largest living cat on Earth, weighing {{cvt|418.2|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-living-cat |title = Largest living cat |access-date = 2022-09-10 |date = 2022 |publisher = Guinness World Records}}</ref><ref name=Hercules>{{Cite news|url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/hercules-liger-worlds-largest-cat-photos_n_3920158.html|title = Hercules, 922-Pound Liger, Is The World's Largest Living Cat (PHOTOS)|work = [[The Huffington Post]]|access-date = 31 January 2015}}</ref> Hercules was featured on the ''[[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]]'', ''[[Good Morning America]]'', ''[[Anderson Cooper 360]]'', ''[[Inside Edition]]'', and in a ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]'' article in 2005, when he was only three years old and already weighed {{cvt|408.25|kg}}.
The Valley of the Kings Animal Sanctuary in [[Wisconsin]] had a male liger named Nook who weighed over {{cvt|550|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name=ligerfacts2016/><ref name="LigerWorldNook">{{cite web |work=Liger World |title=Liger Nook - Liger Profile |url=http://www.ligerworld.com/nook-the-liger.html |access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref>
To compare, the records for the lion and tiger [[Captive animal|in captivity]] are under {{cvt|1100|lbs}}.<ref name="Wood1983">{{cite book |last=Wood |first=G. L. |year=1983 |title=The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats |publisher=Sterling Publishing |isbn=978-0-85112-235-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofan00wood }}</ref><ref name="LSPC1941">{{cite news |publisher=Leonard Scott Publishing Company |title=The Nineteenth Century and After |volume=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylEQAAAAIAAJ&q=Samson,+1,000-pound+African |year=1941 |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref>
==Health and longevity==
Though ligers typically have a life expectancy of between 13 and 18 years, they are occasionally known to live into their 20s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ligerworld.com/recorded-ages-of-ligers.html |title=Liger: Recorded Ages of the Ligers |publisher=Ligerworld.com |access-date=10 December 2013}}</ref> A ligress named Shasta was born at the [[Hogle Zoo]] in [[Salt Lake City]] on 14 May 1948 and died in 1972 at age 24.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.deseretnews.com/article/466968/BABY-LIGER-BROUGHT-NEW-LIFE-TO-STRUGGLING-ZOO.html?pg=all|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150203005527/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/466968/BABY-LIGER-BROUGHT-NEW-LIFE-TO-STRUGGLING-ZOO.html?pg=all|url-status = dead|archive-date = 3 February 2015|title = BABY LIGER BROUGHT NEW LIFE TO STRUGGLING ZOO|last = Twila Van Leer|date = 21 January 1996|work = [[Deseret News]]|access-date = 1 February 2015}}</ref> Nook, a liger at a facility in Wisconsin, died in 2007, at 21 years old.<ref name=ligerfacts2016/><ref name="LigerWorldNook"/> Hobbs, a male liger at the [[Sierra Safari Zoo]] in Reno, Nevada, lived to almost 15 years of age before succumbing to liver failure, and weighed {{cvt|450|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-11000/largest-cat-hybrid/ |title= Largest cat hybrid |publisher= [[Guinness World Records]] |date= 2004 |accessdate= 15 January 2022}}</ref>
[[File:NSK-ZOO-liger.jpg|thumb|A liger at [[Novosibirsk Zoo]]]]
[[Panthera hybrid|''Panthera'' hybrid]]s tend to experience a higher rate of injury and neurological disorder than non-hybrids. Though not without exceptions, ligers and tigons may develop health issues. Organ failure issues have been reported in ligers, in addition to [[neurological deficit]]s, [[Sterility (physiology)|sterility]], cancer, and [[arthritis]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://crownridgetigers.com/lions-tigons-and-hybrids-oh-my |title= Ligers, Tigons, and Hybrids, Oh My! |publisher= Crown Ridge Tigers |author= Lauren Frantz |date= 14 December 2013 |accessdate= 15 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wildcatsanctuary.org/ligers-whats-the-reality-for-these-big-cat-hybrids/ |title= Tigers – what's the reality for these big cat hybrids? |publisher= The Wildcat Sanctuary |date= 31 January 2017 |access-date= 15 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.peta.org/blog/ligers-tigons-frankencats-shouldnt-bred/|title=This Is Why Ligers, Tigons, and Other 'Frankencats' Shouldn't Be Bred|date=19 May 2017|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref>
==Fertility==
[[File:Liger Jungle Island.jpg|thumb|right|Hercules the Liger at Miami's [[Jungle Island]]]]
The fertility of hybrid big cat females is well-documented across a number of different hybrids. This is in accordance with [[Haldane's rule]]: in hybrids of animals whose sex is determined by [[sex chromosomes]], if one of the two sexes is absent, rare or sterile, it will be the [[heterogametic sex]]. Male ligers are consequently sterile, while female ligers are not.
Ligers and tigons were long thought to be totally sterile. However, in 1943, a fifteen-year-old hybrid between a lion and an island tiger was successfully mated with a lion at the [[Tierpark Hellabrunn|Munich Hellabrunn Zoo]]. The female cub, though of delicate health, was raised to adulthood.<ref>Guggisberg, C. A. W. ''Wild Cats of the World'' (1975).</ref>
In September 2012, the Russian Novosibirsk Zoo announced the birth of a "[[liliger]]", the offspring of a liger mother and a lion father. The cub was named Kiara.<ref>{{cite web| title= "Liliger" Born in Russia No Boon for Big Cats | author=Katia Andreassi| publisher=National Geographic| url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120921-liliger-liger-lion-tiger-big-cats-animals-science/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924001616/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120921-liliger-liger-lion-tiger-big-cats-animals-science/| url-status=dead| archive-date=24 September 2012| date=21 September 2012}}</ref>
==Co-occurrence of parent species==
As with the tigon, the liger exists only in captivity. Historically, the [[Asiatic lion]] and the [[Bengal tiger]] co-occurred in some Asian countries, and there are [[legend]]s of male lions mating with tigresses in the wilderness, or of ligers existing there.<ref name=messybeast2012/> The two species' ranges are known to overlap in India's [[Gir National Park]], though no ligers were known to live there until the modern era.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cat Experts: Ligers and Other Designer Hybrids Pointless and Unethical |url=https://www-staging.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/02/wildlife-watch-liger-tigon-big-cat-hybrid/ |website=National Geographic News |access-date=17 September 2020 |language=en |date=24 February 2017 }}{{dead link|date=November 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The range of the [[Caspian tiger]] has overlapped with that of the lion in places such as northern [[Iran]] and eastern [[Anatolia]].<ref name=Geptner1972>{{cite book |author1=Heptner, V. G. |author2=Sludskij, A. A. |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation |___location=Washington DC |url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/83/mode/2up |pages=82–202}}</ref>
==Zoo policies==
[[File:Liger portrait.jpg|thumb|Liger face]]
The United States holds the greatest population of around 30 ligers. China holds about 20 ligers. There are some countries worldwide that hold a few, but it’s probable that fewer than 100 exist worldwide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wildlifewaystation.org/BlogRetrieve.aspx?PostID=837867&A=SearchResult&SearchID=8933906&ObjectID=837867&ObjectType=55|title=The confusing world of the Liger|website=wildlifewaystation.org|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=1 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074434/https://wildlifewaystation.org/BlogRetrieve.aspx?PostID=837867&A=SearchResult&SearchID=8933906&ObjectID=837867&ObjectType=55|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The breeding of ligers and other ''Panthera'' hybrids has come under fire from animal rights activists and organisations, who argue that the health problems experienced by these animals makes their creation immoral.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-the-thorny-ethics-of-hybrid-animals|title=Analysis: The thorny ethics of hybrid animals|website=[[PBS]]|date=27 October 2017|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/liger|title=Liger|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref> Despite these assertions of immorality, some unlicensed zoos still breed ligers for profit.<ref>{{Cite web|date=7 February 2019|title=Liger Facts|url=http://bigcatrescue.org/liger-facts/|access-date=31 August 2020|website=Big Cat Rescue|language=en-US}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Tigon]]
* [[Panthera hybrid|''Panthera'' hybrid]]
* [[Felid hybrid]]
* [[Leopon]]
* [[Heterosis]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* ''This article incorporates text from [http://www.messybeast.com messybeast.com], which is released under the [[GFDL]].''
==Further
* Peters, G. "Comparative Investigation of Vocalisation in Several Felids" published in German in ''Spixiana-Supplement'', 1978; (1): 1–206.
* Courtney, N. ''The Tiger, Symbol of Freedom''. Quartet Books, London, 1980.
==External links==
* [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86058226/1909-04-25/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1789&index=5&rows=20&words=lion+lion-tiger+lions+tiger+tigers&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1924&proxtext=lion+tiger&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram: The Theater | Theatrical Calendar]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q182573}}
[[Category:Panthera hybrids]]
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