I found a picture of a liger (lion tiger cross) on the internet and my science teacher said it was bred in a zoo or something (although my science teacher really is stupid). The big question is, do they exist? Or was that picture photoshopped? hmmm....http://www.pantheratigris.de/anderes%20%FCber%20tiger/Liger.jpg

Yeah, ligers exist, but they are sterile.

Really? There are so many crosses these days. Take the Zebroid (I think that's what its called) for example...

No, just tigons (betcha didn't see that coming - ha ha... ha.) Yes they do but like most hybrids, they're sterile. I don't know what the name of it is, but about a year ago a friend of mine showed me a site about how ligers are the bane of Earth today and how they all must be destroyed. It was pretty funny.

There are both ligers and tigons.
But they aren't usually bred for their magical abilities. Unless sterility is considered magical.

ligers just like mules, are perfectly real, but due to the slight DNA difference, they are sterile and you will need to keep a horse and a donkey or a tiger and a lion

Okay everyone, I think we have established that ligers are sterile. :) <P>

off topic, but yet on hybrids... what about that "new species", supposedly a hybrid of chimpanzees and gorillas? I've read about that some time ago, seen some pictures (I couldn't tell whether it was fake or not)... does someone knows something new? Was a hoax? There was a viable population or just a few individuals, or even a single one?

I think that they are being too hurry to say that it's a new species, even if the hybrids are real (which I also don't know)... but perhaps only the journalists have referred to the hybrids as new species, what wouldn't be a surprise.

About ligers and tigons, I found extremely interesting the differences between both hybrids of the same species.
Ligers (result of a mate of a tigress and a lion) are larger and heavier than siberian tigers, and pretty much healthy (despite of males being infertile), while tigons (mate of male tiger and a lioness) are smaller than lionesses, weak and short-lived...

The have a 'cama' or camel llama, which is not sterile. Which is big news or some such.
The gorilla/chimp crossbreeding was not a hoax. There is evidence of a hybrid, but they aren't sure if it's a hyrbid. It's defnitely a different species, but they're unsure (as with a lot of primates) where it fits on the evolutionary charts.

Mules aren't always sterile ;)

just out of complete intrest... could you possible collect a lot of rat sperm and inject it into a, say... A fremale non sterile Alpaca

just out of complete intrest... could you possible collect a lot of rat sperm and inject it into a, say... A fremale non sterile Alpaca

well of course you could but it would be stupid, hybrids born from relatively close(DNA) species and they are mostly rare.