National Geographic Exposes Liger Breeding for the Scam It Is

You may have heard of a liger—the lion-tiger hybrid is, after all, Napoleon Dynamite's favorite animal—but nowa Russian zoo has released photos of a so-called "liliger" named Kiara, the offspring ofa liger mother and a lion father. (See liger pictures.) "Liliger" Born in Russia NoBoon for Big Cats Unnatural mix-and-match felines have no conservation purpose, experts say. This baby liliger cub may be the only one in existence. The cub, born last week at Novosibirsk Zoo, may be the only liliger in existence. But charming as the cuddly cub appears, ligers, liligers, and other mix-and-match felines raise serious concerns for advocates of big-cat conservation. Ligers are the result of a male lion mating with a female tiger. Craig Packer, director ofthe Lion Research Center at the University of Minnesota, said he hasn't heard of a liliger before but is "not surprised" that it exists. All ligers are born in captivity, Packer said, because this animal simply does not exist in the natural world. Not only are wild lion and tiger populations separated by geography, there are certain behavior mechanisms in place that would prevent the two species from mating. "If a tiger tried to mate with a female lion it would be chased away by the other lions pretty fast, and vice versa," said Packer, who is also a National Geographic Society/Waitt Foundation grantee. Liligers "Irrevelant" for Conserving Big Cats That can change in captivity. Given no other options, lions and tigers may breed. "Lions and tigers areseparated by about seven million years of evolution," Packer said, "but they are still closely enough related that they can hybridize." In the wild, an animal like Kiara would "probably be very mixed up," Packer speculated. "Lions are genetically predisposed to be very sociable and cooperative. Tigers are genetically predisposed to be very ornery and solitary." (See big-cat pictures.) While zoos in some countries do cross-breed cats (probably for the publicity value), U.S. zoos typically do not. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the accrediting body for zoos in North America, does not approve of ligers, said spokesperson Steve Feldman, and no AZA zoos breed them. Modern zoological institutions, he said, instead focus on wildlife-conservation programs. Packer, whohas devoted his career to studying lions, can't imagine why zoos would breed liligers and other such hybrids. "In terms of conservation," he said, "it's so far away from anything, it's kind of pointless to even say it's irrelevant." Katia Andreassi National Geographic News Published September 21, 2012 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120921-liliger-liger-lion-tiger-big-cats-animals-science/ Carole Baskin 7:36 PM on September 21, 2012 Thank you National Geographic for taking the high road on this and telling the public the truth; that these hybrids are only bred to satisfy the public's desire for seeing novelties and those who will profit from supplying that morbid demand. No legitimate conservation program would ever condone such an ignorant act.