Liger anyone?

[Daevion]

Liger

read on!

[Brenda Starrr]

That's only like, my favorite animal.

[Fierce Critter]

Gosh!

[Onyx]

They are amazing, but I feel very sad for them :(

"The following story attempts to make it sound like there could be some reason to breed lions and tigers for public amusement, but anyone who cares about animals knows that this is a despicable thing to do because the cats have to spend their lives in deprivation and confinement and are genetically so unhealthy that they usually die young. The ONLY reason anyone breeds ligers is to create a freak that simple minded people will pay to see. "

"Since 1999 the park has bred its male lion and female tiger many times, producing about 24 cubs.

Not all of them have been healthy, though.

"We've had 3 out of 24 that, for all practical purposes, were normal but developed as they grew older some kind of neurological disorder," Hutcherson said.

Autopsies didn't reveal what caused the cubs to develop "head shakes," so park staff "chalked it up to a genetic defect," Hutcherson said.

Accredited zoos frown on the practice of mixing two different species and have never bred ligers, says Jane Ballentine, a spokesperson for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, based in Silver Spring , Maryland.

"Keeping the two species separate has always been standard procedure," she said.

Wild Ligers?

Long before fans heard Napoleon claim that the liger is "pretty much my favorite animal," there have been rumors of the hybrid's existence in the wild.

Lion-tiger mating occurs in captivity. But it does not happen in the wild, probably for the same reason humans do not breed with gorillas or chimps.

"Crossing the species line" does not generally occur in the wild, because "it would result in diminished fitness of the offspring," said Ronald Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. "

[Daevion]

it just seems wrong...but not nearly as wrong as the white tigers

White Tigers

I rarely get emotional but for some reason this one made me really fuckin sad =(

[Ginevra]

As far as I know, the white tigers are natural abberrations.

[SomeDanGuy]

They are natural abberations, but very rare ones. Rare ones with high demand in the exotic animal market. Therefore, they've been massively inbred. I worked at an exotic feline santuary last summer, and the owner told me that pretty much every white tiger in the US came from one original breeding pair. They are so inbred that they are very small, many are nearly blind, and they have numerous other health problems.

Oh wait, that article finally loaded and that's what it says. I have contributed nothing!

[Daevion]

They are natural abberations, but very rare ones.  Rare ones with high demand in the exotic animal market.  Therefore, they've been massively inbred.  I worked at an exotic feline santuary last summer, and the owner told me that pretty much every white tiger in the US came from one original breeding pair.  They are so inbred that they are very small, many are nearly blind, and they have numerous other health problems.

Oh wait, that article finally loaded and that's what it says.  I have contributed nothing!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

its all good...not everyone's going to bother reading the link

[Homicidalheathen]

I totally agree with this. I don't like how man kind always has to mess with nature....

They are amazing, but I feel very sad for them  :(

"The following story attempts to make it sound like there could be some reason to breed lions and tigers for public amusement, but anyone who cares about animals knows that this is a despicable thing to do because the cats have to spend their lives in deprivation and confinement and are genetically so unhealthy that they usually die young. The ONLY reason anyone breeds ligers is to create a freak that simple minded people will pay to see. "

"Since 1999 the park has bred its male lion and female tiger many times, producing about 24 cubs.

Not all of them have been healthy, though.

"We've had 3 out of 24 that, for all practical purposes, were normal but developed as they grew older some kind of neurological disorder," Hutcherson said.

Autopsies didn't reveal what caused the cubs to develop "head shakes," so park staff "chalked it up to a genetic defect," Hutcherson said.

Accredited zoos frown on the practice of mixing two different species and have never bred ligers, says Jane Ballentine, a spokesperson for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, based in Silver Spring , Maryland.

"Keeping the two species separate has always been standard procedure," she said.

Wild Ligers?

Long before fans heard Napoleon claim that the liger is "pretty much my favorite animal," there have been rumors of the hybrid's existence in the wild.

Lion-tiger mating occurs in captivity. But it does not happen in the wild, probably for the same reason humans do not breed with gorillas or chimps.

"Crossing the species line" does not generally occur in the wild, because "it would result in diminished fitness of the offspring," said Ronald Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[the eternal]

I totally agree with this.  I don't like how man kind always has to mess with nature....

Why not? We do such a good job messing with other men halfway around the world, why stop the streak there?

We are lean mean global genociding machines.

And to think, we keep evolving. Except those "intelligent design" crackpots who think evolution is a false theory, there is no place for science, and I'm a big ass freak (wait that last one was just HH, but my point is)

Still to think of a world without ligers/tions/Michael Jackson/Michael Jackson in bed WITH ligers and tions is a world that I frankly don't think the good lord created for us

AMEN!

[Daevion]

As far as I know, the white tigers are natural abberrations.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nature attempts to factor out things like this do to the survivability factor being significantly less than that of a "normal" tiger. white tigers won't last to long in the jungle due to having no camoflage advantage. Naturally if left alone they would die out. The america white tiger is so inbred that in a way humanity has reversed natural selection to the point of retardation....these tigers can barely survive in a zoo with complete medical care, let alone survive in the wild. The percentage of getting a decent looking white tiger is so low that the majority of the offspring are discarded, assuming they live long past birth.

[SomeDanGuy]

(On a side note, I can't wait until the day I can finally take in some abused exotic cats like this. *sigh*)