The ligers

The liger (lion + tiger) is a hybrid between a lion and a tigress.

Males are sterile hybrids of this animal, because the number of chromosomes of the lion and tiger are pairs, but different, so the liger has an odd number of chromosomes through the process of meiosis that occurs in the formation of male and female gametes (eggs and sperm, respectively), can mate with another animal with similar characteristics, as the tiger or lion pure, but their offspring may have the delicate health.

His appearance is a giant lion with diffused tiger streaks. He is currently the largest feline in the world, with between 3.5 and 4 meters in length. With only three years might weigh half a ton, through their diet of meat and chicken.

It is believed that the sheer size that these animals grow to occur by the absence of genes that determine the production of hormones growth inhibitors. That's because this is a lion in the maternally inherited, and the Tigers is the father, so ligers do not get those genes. The cross between lions and tigers only occurs by action of man. In addition to the habits of both species are very different, they usually do not share the same territories, so there are few opportunities to come together to form this strange intersection. Currently only those animals coexist in nature in the Gir forest, India. Previously however, lions and tigers have coexisted in Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan and in much of the Indian subcontinent.