# Weird, basically moot question about inter-racial breeding

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 25, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627 "2006-01-25T22:28:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627/21 "2006-01-27T20:10:46Z")

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> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Anyhoo, how far back did lions and tigers diverge? Fertile “ligers” and “tigons” exist, though extremely rarely.

The genus _Panthera_, which includes the tiger, lion, leopard, and jaguar, is apparently about 5 million years old. Of extant species, the tiger seems to have split off first, about 2 million years ago. Lions, leopards, and jaguars are more closely related to one another than any of them are to the tiger.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627/22 "2006-01-27T21:00:10Z")

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> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Is that a creature capable of speech but who won’t come to the point? 😃

No, those are semi-nomadic Neanderthals. They don’t really move around much-- they just kind of “meander” from place to place. 🙂

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627/23 "2006-01-27T21:12:13Z")

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> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Anyhoo, how far back did lions and tigers diverge? Fertile “ligers” and “tigons” exist, though extremely rarely.

Ligons are almost always sterile, but tigons are often fertile.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-basically-moot-question-about-inter-racial-breeding/341627/24 "2006-01-27T21:13:33Z")

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> [@John Mace](#):
>
> Ligons are almost always sterile, but tigons are often fertile.

That should have been “ligers”, not “ligons”…

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