“Unknowable” has pointed out that there is a cat even bigger than the American lion was: the liger, the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. These hybrids are sterile, which is probably a very good thing. We wouldn’t want them devouring all the elephants.
I, Mr. Nature, stand corrected. I knew about these critters but wasn’t counting them because they can’t reproduce themselves. There’s also a tiglon, with a tiger father and a lion mother: not quite so big, but somewhat more aggressive.
Nature sure is full of surprises.
If they can’t reproduce themselves, where did that cub on the liger’s back come from? Another lion/tiger mating? And has this liger adopted the new baby?
I do t think that they are always sterile. Hybrids are not always sterile and I think that some Ligers may we’ll have proven fertile.
They are magnificent animals.
Awesome Beast!