Photo: Aleksey Shilin / Wikimedia Commons Meet the world’s largest animal: the liger
While ligers are something that will surprise you, you will not see one outside of the zoo, they are male hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress, something that will not occur in nature
Ligers like a striped lion
They tend to inherit the brown stripes from their lion fathers and the dark stripes from their tigress mothers
As a result of the union between the tiger, the largest and heaviest feline, and the lion, the second largest, ligers tend to be 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, which weighs 922 pounds and measures 11 feet long and 4 feet at the shoulder
At 922 pounds (4182 kilograms) and 11 feet (333 meters) long and measuring 4 feet (125 meters) high at the shoulder, it is considered the world’s largest feline
Photo by Ali West
Like many other poor hybrids, ligers often die in the womb or prematurely
They also suffer from many genetic disadvantages and diseases that are associated with both lions and tigers, such as neurological problems, cancer, arthritis, and body failure work
Photo by Hkandy
For these reasons as well as the lack of conservation costs and the threat to the tigress mother at birth, ligers are banned in most zoos and animal sanctuaries;
Watch the video below to see the liger in motion: The liger is just one of many surprising hybrid species
Click here to learn about 20 more amazing hybrid animals
SEE ALSO: Lion vs