# Giant Liger (Lion/Tiger) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889 "2005-06-11T21:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/1 "2005-06-11T21:17:00Z")
If you haven’t checked out Scopes lately: > **[Liger](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/liger/)** > > Do photographs show a liger named Hercules? That’s a big cat! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/2 "2005-06-11T21:39:42Z")
I first saw those photos a year or so ago, and at first I assumed that they were fakes. What a magnificent cat! ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/3 "2005-06-11T21:45:03Z")
Who the hell cares about the ‘magnificent cat’, I’m just looking at the handler. Meeeeeeowwwww! Tripler Insert your own dirty p\*\*sy joke here. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/4 "2005-06-11T23:05:41Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Who the hell cares about the ‘magnificent cat’, I’m just looking at the handler. So you really have a thing for the [soul patch](http://graphics1.snopes.com/photos/animals/graphics/liger3.jpg), eh? 😉 Seriously, though, she’s a hot chick, and that’s one big kitty. ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/5 "2005-06-11T23:19:14Z")
Forget having a tigerskin throw in front of the fireplace. You could carpet my whole damn house. 😉 For the record I am a cat person. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a dead cat joke as much as the next guy. Let my cat bite you on the little toe and see what that does to your sense of humor about cats. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/6 "2005-06-11T23:20:27Z")
Am I the only one who now wants a pet liger? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/7 "2005-06-12T00:20:18Z")
nope, you are not the only one. these cats are magnificent. beautiful markings and colouring. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/8 "2005-06-12T00:40:30Z")
I dunno why, but I looked at those pictures and immediately got part of an AC/DC song in my head: _…made a meal out of me, and came back for more…_ ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/9 "2005-06-12T01:12:17Z")
A Liger!? Wow! It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic. [/obligatory Napoleon Dynamite quote] ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/10 "2005-06-12T01:34:10Z")
Wow. I am now even more a cat-lover. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/11 "2005-06-12T01:35:06Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Am I the only one who now wants a pet liger? mmm, no you are not - join the queue! 🙂 What an adorable fantastic mega-moggie. Want! Want! Want! ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/12 "2005-06-12T01:42:54Z")
I don’t think I’d ever want a cat that big. A big cat will tear you to pieces. But a little pussy never hurt anyone! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/13 "2005-06-12T01:43:12Z")
These pictures showed up recently in Cafe Society, in the thread about the upcoming Narnia movie. Someone commented that if you put a mane on that cat, you could have Aslan, without all the special CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/14 "2005-06-12T01:54:38Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > mmm, no you are not - join the queue! 🙂 What an adorable fantastic mega-moggie. > Want! Want! Want! Oooh, “mega-moggie”. I like that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/15 "2005-06-12T06:19:16Z")
It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/16 "2005-06-12T07:00:41Z")
The reason they get that big is that male lions contribute a “giant” gene that influences growth to large proportions, but female lions contribute a gene that retards that one. Since a liger is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger, the growth-retardant gene isn’t present but the growth-promotion one is, and the animal gets…well, really big. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/17 "2005-06-12T07:22:53Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic. Is there an echo in here? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/18 "2005-06-12T07:24:10Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The reason they get that big is that male lions contribute a “giant” gene that influences growth to large proportions, but female lions contribute a gene that retards that one. Since a liger is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger, the growth-retardant gene isn’t present but the growth-promotion one is, and the animal gets…well, really big. Yep. That’s also why tigons are much smaller than ligers. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/19 "2005-06-12T07:59:28Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > mmm, no you are not - join the queue! 🙂 What an adorable fantastic mega-moggie. > Want! Want! Want! OK, so you’re the one on charge of cleaning the kittie litter. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889/20 "2005-06-12T12:37:30Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Is there an echo in here? No, I think that was a whoosh over your head. It is a quote from a movie. -Tcat [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-liger-lion-tiger/307889.md?page=2)