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Subj:.....1,000
lbs Liger (S579c)
From: ginafm on 2/22/2008
On a typical day he
will devour 200 lb of meat, usually beef or
chicken, and is capable
of eating 100 lb at a single setting. At just
three years old,
Hercules already weighs half a ton.
He is the unintentional
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." These two cats don't normally
have the opportunity to breed
in the wild, as most
lions live in Africa and most tigers in Asia.
50mph 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, but likely to kill one another.
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But incredible
though he is,
Hercules is not unique.
Ligers
have been bred in
captivity,
deliberately and
accidentally,
since shortly before
World War II.
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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. |
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Look at the size
of the head on this thing..
.
.
.
.
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Check
out the fangs -
like
pre-historic days
For you animal lovers...
and even those
who aren't.
This is pretty
cool. |
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