Lions and tigers are similar and come from the same genus, known as panthera. This makes mating able to happen to produce the liger and tigon. They are different though, making them hybrids because they are apart of two different species (leo and tigris).*****\n
I know for me at least, I had never heard of ligers let alone tigons before the movie Napoleon Dynamite. They were thought of as a fictional character and were displayed to look more like this drawing^. Ligers and tigons are in fact real and are very interesting hybrid animals.\n
The breeding between a male lion and a female tiger or tigress produces a liger.\n
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As you can see, ligers resemble more of the looks of a lion because of the dominance of the lion father. The male ligers will have the mane of a lion, only it’s smaller because a tiger’s mane is short and scruffy. Ligers have more of the coloring of the lion. They will also have the stripes of a tiger, only they’re faint, and they also acquire the whiter or lighter stomach and chest of the tiger.\n
Ligers most often grow to be bigger than both of their parents, and in some cases up to twice as big. This occurs because the growth regulating genes come from a male tiger and a female lion, both being absent.\n
It was thought up until the late 1940s that both male and female ligers were sterile. Research has now discovered, though, that only female ligers are able to reproduce. In 1948 a ligress was mated to a lion and gave birth to a li-liger. ***\n
Breeding between a male tiger and a female lion or lioness produces a tigon. Tigons also have been called tiglons.\n
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As you can see, the tigon resembles more of the tiger due to the dominance of the male tiger. The male tigons have the shorter, more scruffy manes of the tiger. The tigon also resembles the tiger with its more defined striping. The tigon resembles its lion mother with her coloring.\n
Tigons also were thought to be sterile until the early 1970s when a tigress was mated with a lion to give birth to a li-tigon. Male tigons are not able to reproduce.\n
These equations show different possible outcomes for the lion and tiger such as the liger, tigon, li-tigon, ti-tigon, li-liger, and ti-liger.\n
Ligers and tigons are thought to have the best of both worlds of their parents. They will most often have the friendliness and curiosity of their lion parent and the love of water from their tiger parent. With this said, the reverse is likely to happen though too, where the liger or tigon would get the less fortunate genes of both of their parents.\n
Ligers and tigons are only found in captivity because the paths of the tiger and lion don’t cross in the wild. lions are found in africa, and tigers are found in asia.\n
The diet of the liger and tigon is going to resemble the carnivorous diet of both the lion and tiger. Even though ligers and tigons are only found in captivity, they feed on the meat of the zebra, giraffe, buffalo, and gazelles just like tigers and lions do in the wild. Ligers and tigons can eat anywhere from 11-25 pounds of meat per day.\n
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*The creation of hybrid animals helps zoologists further their knowledge about genes\n*Originally, they were bred as a new, unique “never been seen before” attraction for the circus bringing in publicity and fame\n*The creation of ligers and tigons only happen in captivity, like said before, bringing in, once again, publicity and fame.\n
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*Ligers and tigons are prone to diseases and cancers because of their gene arrangements\n*Gigantism usually occurs in ligers just as \n*Dwarfism usually occurs in tigons which brings in more health problems relating to in-normal size\n*When the ligers and tigons were bred for the circus, they had to go through the cruel life of being a circus animal\n
