Image: Aleksey Shilin/Wikimedia Commons Meet the world’s largest feline: the liger
While ligers are certainly admirable, you will never find them outside the zoo – they are an artificial hybrid of a male lion and a tigress, which is never found in nature
Ligers are somewhat similar to striped lions
They tend to inherit tawny fur from their lion fathers and dark stripes from their tigress mothers
As a result of this union between the tiger, the largest and heaviest member of the cat family, and the lion, the second largest, ligers tend to be much larger and heavier than their parents
In fact, the largest feline in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is a liger named Hercules, who weighs 922 pounds and is 11 feet long and 4 feet at the shoulder
At 922 pounds (4182 kg) and 11 feet (333 meters) long and 4 feet (125 meters) at the shoulder, it is considered the largest living feline in the world
Photo by Ali West
Like many other unnatural hybrids, ligers often die in utero or prematurely
They also suffer from a host of nasty genetic defects and diseases associated with both lions and tigers, such as neurological problems, cancer, arthritis, and organ failure
Photo by Khkandi
For these reasons, as well as the lack of conservation value and the threat to the mother tigress during childbirth, ligers are banned from most zoos and animal shelters;
Watch the video below to see the liger in action: the liger is just one of many amazing hybrid species
Click here for 20 more amazing hybrid animals
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