Lions and Tigers and.....Ligers.... oh my!

On a typical day he will devour 200 lbs. of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100 lbs. at a single setting. At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton.


His father is a lion and his mother is a tiger.


He is the unintentional result of two enormous big cats living close together at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, in Miami, Florida, and already dwarfs both his parents."Ligers are not something we planned on having," said institute owner Dr. Bhagavan Antle. "We have lions and tigers living together in large enclosures and at first we had no idea how well one of the lion boys was getting along with a tiger girl, then lo and behold we had a liger." These two cats don't normally have the opportunity to breed in the wild, as most lions live in Africa and most tigers in Asia.

50 mph runner...Not only that, but he likes to swim, a feat unheard of among water-fearing lions. In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies but likely to kill one another. But incredible though he is, Hercules is not unique. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II.

Today there are believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tigons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother. Tigons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.

Look at the size of the head on this animal.

Check out the fangs!

That is one big beautiful animal.

Have a great weekend!
~xo

Lee Ann (whose father is Lee and mother is Ann ~ well at least their middle names) :)