World biggest hybrid cat is half lion, half tiger!
By ANITuesday, November 9, 2010
MELBOURNE - A wildlife reserve in the US has unveiled the world’s biggest hybrid cat - which is half tiger, half lion - or a liger.
Aries was presented to the world along with eight-year-old big brother, Hercules, at the Myrtle Beach Safari wildlife reserve in South Carolina.
It is a cross between a male lion and a female tigress and is expected to pile on 0.45kg per day. Hercules - who stands almost 183cm tall and weighs more than 406kg.
“Generally lions and tigers don’t reproduce and the male lion breeding with a tiger has only happened three times,” News.com.au quoted Dr Bhagavan Antle, the institute’s director, as telling the UK’s Mail Online.
“The great thing about ligers is they have this extreme social ability they get from their lion fathers. They enjoy the social life and enjoy touching and interactive play,” he added.
The liger is bigger than the other alternative combination of the two fiercest big cats - the tigon. Bred in China, the tigon is a cross between a male tiger and a lioness. (ANI)
