Breeding related snakes?

[mtolypetsupply]

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

But what about the liger? Isn't that a separate species now, what with the magical skills and all?


Stephi

[infernalis]

I believe she is complimenting your education.

[Stefan-A]

But what about the liger? Isn't that a separate species now,

Nope.

[bsol]

Its just a tiger with some lion characteristics or a lion with some tiger characteristics. I guess it depends on the dominant gene... The man from Southern Finland is really up on this stuff!

[Stefan-A]

Yup, but that's still easy stuff.

Reading about Starfish Prime at the moment.

[bsol]

keep on doing your thing pal! the more information you have stored in your brain the more we can all benefit!

[Stefan-A]

Not the ideal place to store information, I'm afraid.

[bsol]

I bet you have tons of latin names, species and sub species of all kinds of animals in that brain man!

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

But what about the liger? Isn't that a separate species now, what with the magical skills and all?


Stephi

It wouldn't be a good idea to call a liger its own species. Short recap is needed here. A tigon is a cross b/n a male tiger and a female lion; the crossing works, but cubs are always rejected by the lioness; she will not recognize them as her own. No evolutionary success story there -it's not meant to be (Actually, none of this would occur naturally b/n the 2 cats). A liger is the opposite cross: male lion, female tiger. In this case the mother tiger will accept the young and attempt to raise it. Speciation regarding both versions is ultimately doomed, as males born in both crossings are sterile; there would be no continuance of the line. This is really a partial hybrid, where the female offspring can only breed with one or the other of the 2 original species (thus reaffirming traits of one species or the other). Also, it is important to know that ligers have a shorter lifespan due to health complications that may be compared to those which killed Andre the Giant (I'm not a "wrestling" fam, but I liked the "Princess Bride".). Apparently male lions offer up some kind of growth hormone to the next generation, that is kept in check by something the lioness puts into the "recipe". Ligers do not get this hormone inhibitor from their tiger mother, and therefore never stop growing. Ligers may be called the largest big cat in the world. Unfortunately, their heart can't compensate for the continual increase in body volume. Most new complex animal species do not arise from hybridization. Sub-specific intergrades don't count, because subspecies are still the SAME species. In cases like these far-flung sub-specific intergrades might actually strengthen genetic integrity rather than weaken it. This however doesn't fair well when you are dealing with captive-bred specimens whose traits you wish to keep defined.

Steven

[infernalis]

Very well said Steven...