The truth about ligers

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Ligers were put into the limelight over the last few years when the fim "Napoleon Dynamite" came out: the main protagonist talks about his fondness for this hybrid animal, adding that ligers are "bred for their skill in magic" and accompanying his words with the most intriguing and cuttest drawing of a liger :) Ligers have been occurring in captivity for as long as man has kept lions and tigers together in cages or enclosures, particularly when a lion and a tigress are kept together. They catch the eye for their sheer size and unusual appearance, combining lion and tiger attributes. However, I was shocked to find out that ligers aren't healthy animals in many ways and are virtually condemned to a life of misery. First of all, I read somewhere that delivering a bigger cub than normal put the tigress' life at risk. The liger's health itself is also precarious and they are more susceptible to diseases. Secondly, ligers don't really contribute to an effort of conservation and take the space and means that would be put to a better use by keeping pure-bred lions and tigers. Ligers don't occur in the wild: lions and tigers are extremely unlikely to meet and reproduce for they inhabit different environments. And even if they did meet, they wouldn't waste time and efforts in breeding and raising a cub that would turn out to be a genetic dead-end: male ligers in particular are sterile. While ligers can happen by accident, they are also bred deliberately for their novelty value and, of all the hybrids possible, they are relatively easy to obtain. The tigon, another hybrid produced by the mating of a male tiger and a female lion, is a fairly rarer occurence than the liger, not only because male tiger and female lion matings are less frequent but also because, being smaller, tigons don't look as spectacular and appealing to the public as ligers. Their health is as delicate as ligers'. Ligers are beautiful but unfortunate animals: hopefully, the truth about their real nature is starting to emerge and may discourage further liger or any big feline hybrid in the future, on the ground of ethics and conservation.