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Here kitty, kitty...


Welles

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The 10ft Liger who's still growing...

He looks like something from a prehistoric age or a fantastic creation from Hollywood. But Hercules is very much living flesh and blood - as he proves every time he opens his gigantic mouth to roar. Part lion, part tiger, he is not just a big cat but a huge one,standing 10ft tall on his back legs. Called a liger, in reference to his crossbreed parentage, he is the largest of all the cat species.

On a typical day he will devour 20lb of meat, usually beef or chicken, and is capable of eating 100lb at a single setting. At just three years old, Hercules already weighs half a ton.

He is the accidental 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."

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 likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia. 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.

B7
 
:shocked: WOW!!! :D :bustagut: What an incredible feline indeed 8D I've never seen pictures of a liger before like this one -- certainly am surprised by this one's humongous size too. Just goes to show that differences can combine into something special. ;) :} :}

Thanks for the great pics and info Welles! 8D
 
:bustagut: Wouldn't recommend the ol' stick your head in there trick either :bustagut: , this guy could snap yer head off like a breadstick! :shocked:
 
Dang, that thing's fat. :shocked: Looks like it just ate a fat lady. What have they been feeding it.....I wonder? \:]
 
:bustagut: Meeeeow! Yeah, but would ya want to be the one to put the ol' kittycat on a "diet"....nah ah!!! Not I -- I 'd prefer to keep all my apendages...:bustagut: I bet keeping this guy well-fed is pretttttttty important to the well being of those happy folks pictured. Besides, I bet he purrs like a Harley after a good snack -- who could resist pampering him? :bustagut:
 
Speak softly, and carry a big tranquilizer dart. 8D
 
Ligers, Tigons, but no bears. OH MY!

That's one big kitty.

Looks like what made a sound outside my back porch last night. Sent me runnin' inside right away.
 
[innocent] Okay....we need an unusual bear to go with this I guess....so here's the "Spirit Bear" :D

"The magical Spirit Bear is one of the most remarkable and rare animals alive. This all-white black bear can be found only on British Columbia's spectacular Princess Royal Island, some adjacent smaller islands and, it is rumored,several tiny islands in Alaska. Native North Americans attach much folklore to these creatures ? one story claims that Raven, the creator, made the white bear as a reminder of the last ice age and decreed that these bears would live in peace and harmony forever. Here, it is estimated that nearly one in every ten black bears is a Spirit Bear."
 
Sheba said:
[saywhat] That lady is HUGE, but look at the size of her head! Holy moly..

Oops, for some reason I read the first time and missed the fact it was a male and not a female. So I wasn't talking about the lady pictured with the liger, I'm talking about the liger. :bustagut: Although she may have a big head, but not in comparison to the beast next to her. 8}
 

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