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That's one HUGE cat!
A Liger is a cross breed of a Lion male and Tiger female.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ns91/Liger.jpg
The 10ft Liger who's still growing... He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creation from Hollywood. But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves every time he opens his gigantic mouth to roar.
Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one, standing 10ft tall on his back legs. Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is the largest of all the cat species.
On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting. At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...s91/Liger2.jpg
He is the accidental result of two enormous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami, Florida, and already dwarfs both his parents.
"Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute owner Dr Bhagavan Antle. "We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then loo and behold we had a liger."
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...s91/Liger3.jpg
50mph runner.. Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions. In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia . But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...s91/Liger4.jpg
Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother. Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...s91/Liger5.jpg
Look at the size of the head on this thing! :shock:
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...s91/Liger6.jpg
Isn't that amazing? Haha, I think of Napoleon Dynamite when I hear Liger... :lol:
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wow! I SO want one!
*daydreams about having an army of ligers at his disposal*
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I heard something about how one can roar, but the other cannot.
The other that cannot roar can growl, but the one who roars cannot growl.
Perhaps just a myth. :?
Methinks its the Liger that roars and Tigons that growl.
But DAMN is that thing big! I wonder if they put Ligers in the Roman Coliseum,
because they had both tigers and lions in captivity...
if they did, that would suck thoroughly for the Gladiators.
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Kitty! :D I wanna pet 'im!
Does anyone know if he's shown signs of magical tendencies? That's been known to happen.
Thanks, Burns! That really is an awesome animal!
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Wow amazing how you can look at it and see both species mix like that. Think you can deam about riding on it.
How long will it live for? will it grow anymore?
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Whoa.
That is one intense housecat.
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I think I read somewhere that because of their size, Ligers have serious health problems... also, they wouldnt survive in the wild, as they are too big and ungainly and simply can't catch enough food to sustain them, given their size... I dunno... if so, maybe it's a bit cruel to breed such creatures...
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not if you have enough food to sustain them, i say. There are plenty of animals we keep around even though they have health problems. As long as they're born by accident, i think it's better to let them live. they're probably sterile anyway, so breeding them would be difficult and there aren't enough advantages to it.
