Ligers are Sterile? Definitely Not!
This is one of the most fundamental questions about the ligers. Are the sterile? Can they reproduce? The answer is yes. Traditionally it was believed that ligers are sterile and they cannot give birth. But however, all went wrong when one of the female liger in the Munich zoo gave birth to a Li-Liger. It means father was a lion and the female was a liger.
This result indicates that ligers are not sterile. But so far we have talked about the female ligers. Therefore, our notion should be that the female ligers are not sterile. Because according to the evidence female ligers have given birth. Male Ligers haven't been involved in any mating to transfer their genes to the offsprings. But according to different lab tests, male ligers do have a certain high degree of testosterone presence within their body. However, it will only matter if the male ligers will be able to mate and successful produce their offsprings, thereby passing their own genes.
But the question still remains, whether the male ligers are sterile? There has been no occasion yet that a male liger would have given birth to the ligers. But on the other hand the tests regarding testosterones of the ligers indicate that ligers have them with a plenty. There has been no example of a male and female ligers, who have been living together and reproduced a pure liger cub. However; there has been many examples in which male and female ligers just lived together with one another.
A liger expert named as Dr. Antle vividly supported against the notion that the ligers are sterile. He said that ligers can reproduce. Female ligers reproduce better than the male ligers. Dr. Antle owes at least four ligers which are Hercules, Sinbad, Zeus and Vulcan. All of these ligers are male. Dr. Antle believes that ligers are never sterile and it is a very bad notion to associate sterility with the ligers.
Therefore, the bottom line is ligers are not sterile. But however, they are not as much capable of reproduction as compared to tigers and lions. Further researches can indicate about different prospects regarding reproduction of the ligers.
About male ligers, a big doubt is always lurking about their sterility. Most of the critics 100% believe that Male Ligers are sterile, because these male ligers have never reproduced. However; still there is a lot to be learn about ligers especially the male ligers, and only then a conclusive evidence can be made about that whether the ligers are sterile or not.
