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monkelus t1_j9ewspt wrote

Don't forget they're bred for their skills in magic; I know cuz they're pretty much my favourite animal

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LifeBuilder t1_j9f2i9l wrote

So the square-cube law is the limiter than?

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RAMPAGINGINCOMPETENC t1_j9f56om wrote

Are they sterile? If not, you should cross one back with a lion and work on a huge super cat.

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C-H-U-D t1_j9f5unq wrote

Interesting. Female lions bred with male tigers produce smaller ligons due to the growth inhibiting gene in the female that balances male lion growth maximizing genes.

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Sharchir t1_j9feaal wrote

That explains the size of the liger in the video from earlier - what a unit!

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OllieFromCairo t1_j9ffdip wrote

That headline is a little vague.

Cats inherit a size-limiting gene from each parent, but the one from the father is ALWAYS shut down. Cats' size is limited by the gene they inherit from their mother. Female tigers have this growth-limiting gene. The issue is that the tiger growth-limiting gene does not send signals that get received in Ligers, so the gene doesn't work.

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OllieFromCairo t1_j9fgq0o wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,900,486)

Not true. Sometimes the hybrids do just fine, like in the case of tilapia, or apple trees.

It can also be highly sex-dependent. For example, you can cross a domestic cattle bull with a bison cow, and the female offspring will generally be fertile, and the male offspring generally will not be.

However, those hybrid cows can reproduce with male bison, and now almost every bison herd in North America has some fraction of domestic cattle genes in it.

Yak bulls can produce fully fertile offspring of both sexes with Bison cows, but not the other way around.

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scotty-doesnt_know t1_j9fhp5h wrote

if im not mistaken most are developmentally disabled. basically mentally handicapped.

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cnhn t1_j9fjp2a wrote

Replying to RAMPAGINGINCOMPETENC (#1,900,162)

despite the repeated assertions that they are sterile, the answer is more complex.

the male hybrid offspring ligers are generally sterile the female ligers are fertile.

so for example a tiliger is the offspring of a male tiger and a female liger.

it seems most of the great cats have some limited interbreeding, so tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, and snow leopards.

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OllieFromCairo t1_j9fla9u wrote

Replying to FloweringSkull67 (#1,901,548)

You’re responding to something I didn’t say. I didn’t say anything about fruit variety propagation. Malus sylvestris crosses with M. sieversii, M. coronaria and a bunch of other species just fine, producing fecund offspring.

Whether you get a palatable apple from the cross is an unrelated question.

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ZedTT t1_j9fnq8p wrote

Replying to LifeBuilder (#1,899,825)

Not exactly. The square cube law makes larger life unviable and makes evolution naturally select against animals that are too big. In this case, though, evolution isn't really at play as these are artificially bred animals.

Evidently there is some square cube law wiggle room above the size of large cats, hence ligers don't drop dead from overheating or being unable to stand etc. They may be overall less suited to their environment, though.

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Barlakopofai t1_j9gigcy wrote

These ligers look significantly less inbred than the ones I'd see when I was a kid.

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MarvinLazer t1_j9gq3ks wrote

And the poor kitties get horrible health problems as a result. Breeding ligers is cruel.

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passporttohell t1_j9gyf9c wrote

They are also the unhealthiest of big cat species, it should really be illegal to create them. Simply something that should not exist and clearly lead very difficult and uncomfortable lives because of their being bred this way.

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deethy t1_j9gzui5 wrote

Ligers make me sad. They can't move around much because of their size.

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Bloomberg12 t1_j9h1fs8 wrote

Replying to ZedTT (#1,902,110)

There's also other limiting factors in size too, to be fair. Cancer being one of them, with a lot more cells to undergo regeneration the chance that one "goes rogue" becomes much more likely, especially since life spans typically become longer when a longer growth period is needed.

That being said some animals have developed counter measures like elephants that makes them much lower risk.

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New_Designer5528 t1_j9hetkr wrote

To add to that a puma leopard hybrid tend to be dwarves...

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superjudgebunny t1_j9hgkrd wrote

There are reports of tigers that size. On an island that hunt buffalo. We’re talking lean mean fuckers, lions you do NOT want near.

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Violated-Tristen t1_j9hm11e wrote

Me TOO! I’ve always wondered why the Ligers I have seen have all been SO big. WOW. Thanks.

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nerdgirl37 t1_j9i9ac3 wrote

The big cat sanctuary near me has a liger, he's absolutely massive and a beautiful cat.

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Matisaro t1_j9ichnu wrote

So they AREN'T bred for their skills in magic?

​

What a rip off.

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passporttohell t1_j9iqscj wrote

Replying to fanghornegghorn (#1,914,607)

Well, now is a good time to read up on the health problems ligers have... Richard Feynman's father used to take him for walks in Central Park. Dick used to ask him what the animals and birds were. His father asked him to observe them and tell his father what he saw. Dick developed a healthy curiosity that developed into a career in physics and involvement with the Manhatten Project. Research and learn, don't just go for the easy answer.

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HobgoblinKhanate1 t1_j9iupob wrote

Replying to OllieFromCairo (#1,901,237)

I once read big cats over the past millions of years go extinct because they get too big, need more food, then struggle to adapt to ecological changes. I wonder if lions are more successful because of this gene and the reason for it to stick around

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lysinemagic t1_j9izlwv wrote

Replying to passporttohell (#1,914,813)

Y'know, when you throw a claim out into the ether and someone asks for more information and clarification, give an actual answer. That is, if you were genuinely interested in spreading knowledge versus trying to score internet point.

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Geomancer_1880 t1_j9jaoxi wrote

Dad why you hook up with tiger ?

Lion dad: she was BIG my boy

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Bloomberg12 t1_j9s91b3 wrote

Replying to fanghornegghorn (#1,953,653)

Very rarely, especially so for their size and life span.

They have 20 times the copies of a fairly common gene (P53) which targets cancer cells and this is seemingly pretty common for larger animals including blue whales but elephants specifically have another gene (LIF6) which is controlled by P53 and acts as another layer of defence. It's also a theory that it was a strong contributing factor as to why elephants got as big as they are because of the (extremely vague) timing.

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