On a typical day he will devour
200 lb of meat, usually beef or
chicken, and is capable of eating
100 lb at a single setting. At just
three years old, Hercules already
weighs half a ton.
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.
50mph 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 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 thing..
2 comments:
food that talks!
I imagine that's what the big cat is thinking.
Ligers are the biggest cats on earth. They are bigger than lions and tigers. In fact they are bigger twice the weights of lions and tigers. There are around 90 ligers in the world right now and their population is on the rise from the last 5 and a half years :)
Thanks a lot
Post a Comment