Say hello to the "Liger"

[Sturm]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10994934

...cool

[Jezebel]

I as unaware that ligers were illegal.

Last I heard, the Sierra Safari zoo in Reno still has ligers.

[MoP]

I never heard of a liger before

Doesn't seem like a natural thing to do...

[Lilim Savanant]

previously ligers have popped up in mixed large cat enclosures when the animals have of their own choice decided to have sex on their own, obviously until they started popping up people didn't even think that would happen.

the illegal part is intentionally breeding them. they're naturally infertile creatures and prone to any number of genetic and debilitating disorders because of their mixed heritage, so in this case they're being accused of intentionally putting the two cats together in cages with ligers in mind

[Jezebel]

they're naturally infertile creatures and prone to any number of genetic and debilitating disorders because of their mixed heritage

Though this may be true of ligers (I have not heard of such issues, however), I should point out a few things

1. Mixed heritage is usually not an issue, even with animals, except for infertility. Even then there are fertile hybrid species. Mules, for example, are sterile due to an odd number of chromosomes (Horses have 64 chromosomes, donkeys have 62. This means that 32 + 31 = 63 chromosomes in mules). Hybrids with an odd number of chromosomes are usually sterile due to meiosis not proceeding (I won't bore anyone with a long lecture on meiosis and the checkpoints that shut it down unless someone really wants to hear it). This is why many hybrids are sterile, but others, like the beefalo (bison and domestic cow) are fertile (beefalo have 60 chromosomes, since both bison and cattle have 60 chromosomes, so the offspring get 30 from each parent). Odd number = usually sterile. Even number - usually fertile. I think the same is true for plants, but I teach mainly animal genetics, botany is one of two subtopics I don't know very well (A & P being the other). Plants can do a lot of things animals cannot - like double their chromosome number and become whole new species or varieties. Nearly all animal embryos with a double chromosome number are miscarried pretty early on.

2. Hybrids, depending on the gender of the species crossed, can be better than either of the parent species. Mules (male donkey, female horse), for example, are large and stronger than either horses or donkeys. Hinnies (female donkey, male horse), however, tend to be smaller and are not as strong. Why does gender matter? One theory is genetic imprinting, it's well known that parental imprinting of genetic material affects how offspring will eventually appear, because the genetic material is imprinted differently in males than females. Again, I can give a long lecture on genomic imprinting (we see it even in humans), but won't unless someone really wants to know. Same reason why Ligers are larger than Tiglons (both are hybrids of lions & tigers, but again genetic imprinting plays a role).

The real issue is animal conservation - Ligers are a evolutionary dead-end because of their infertility. When both tigers and lion populations being a concern (Tigers, I believe, are endangered. I don't know about lions), you don't want to waste critical reproduction producing infertile hybrids.

[Atla]

It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

[Nagash]

It's much like a mule. However, they should've come up with a better name for the beastie. Liger is zany.

[MoP]

'Liger' and 'Tiglon' in Dutch are 'Lijger' and 'Teeuw'. That's even worse.

[Nagash]

It's name should be Bigpuss, or perhaps Hank. Not liger.

[MoP]

Maybe Jezebel can give us the Latin name for the animal. It will be cooler than 'liger' so we might as well use it from now on then.

Panthera Ligris?

[Gili]

He said they tried to separate the animals but the lion 'got very angry'.

Fair enough. Angering Lions wouldn't be on my to do list if i ran a zoo :p

Tions!!!!!!!!

[Lady Maven]

I have a friend who runs a beefalo ranch in Texas. If they were infertile he would be out of business pretty quick. I have mixed feelings about beefalo. I really don't like the idea of mixing anything with my buffalo meat. Though honestly buffalo is so lean it does benefit from more fat. But i rfer to add it and I want it to be pork fat.

ooooohhhh mix pigs with cattle. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm beefy bacon.

[MoP]

Great. Now I'm hungry.

[Gili]

Mmmm designer animals you say Well, cows = milk and beef...if we could have some eggs as well would suit me a treat

[Nagash]

Cows that give booze instead of milk would be cool. First you'd drink their booze, then you'd eat them.

[Gili]

we'd just need to ensure there shit was designed to be the perfect fertilizer type "stuff" for growing of potatoes and we have our own steak, egg, chips and beer machine.

Fuck, all these people saying genetically modifying is bad

[Lady Maven]

They also eat hay, convert them over to wheat and breed with chickens and with very little effort you have pancakes!!

Modifying is GOOD!!

[MoP]

We'll modify them so they shit pancake dough.

[Lady Maven]

We are RIDICULOUSLY awesome. We have cured "what's for breakfast" and global warming in one fell swoop.

[Gili]

yup.

Someone needs to learn the science for this and get working on it promptly.