Liger vs Tiger

Both liger and tiger vary in terms of their weights, lengths, heights, appearances and behavior etc. Remember a liger is a hybrid animal having male lion as its father and tigress as its mother. On the other hand; a tiger is classified species belonging to the genus "Panthera". A liger weighs around 900 pounds (on average) whereas; the largest tiger breed (The Siberian Tiger) weighs around 600 pounds to 650 pounds. A liger may weigh more than 900 pounds and same is true about a tiger as well because it can weigh more than 650 pounds as well. For example among ligers, Hercules the liger (world's biggest liger) weighs around 921 pounds and previously a liger named as Hobbs the liger weighed more than 1000 pounds. Similarly; a lot of tigers are reported to have a weight beyond 650 pounds. A Siberian tiger in captivity named as Jaipur weighed around 932 pounds in 1986. Furthermore; a Siberian tiger during 1950 within Russian Federation weighed around 845 pounds as well.

A liger can be as long as 11 to 12 feet when it comes to its length. A liger named as Hercules has a length of 11 feet, whereas; previously a liger named as Samson the liger was almost 12 feet long. Tigers on the other hand are longer than lions but not longer than tigers. A tiger's length is around 9 to 10 feet on average. Among the group of tigers a Siberian tiger is believed to be have this length of 9 to 10 feet long. Therefore; it is not the weigh because of which a liger is bigger than tiger, a liger also has a huge body structure which makes it bigger than a tiger.

Standing on its four feet a liger can be as tall as 6 feet from its feet to the tip of its ears. On the other hand a Siberian tiger (Tallest among all ligers) measures around four and a half feet from its feet to the tip of its ears. All the other species of tigers such as Bengal tigers, Caspian tigers and Sumatran tigers are shorter in height than the Siberian tiger. So a liger enjoys a taller height than a tiger as well which makes it look bigger than a tiger. Furthermore; the structure of liger's legs and paws is also bigger than that of the tiger.

The skull structure of a liger is also bigger than a tiger. According to the findings of the experts liger's skull is twice bigger than a tiger. A liger skull has a bigger jaw structure, long powerful teeth and strong muscles to create a massive bite force. Researchers at National Geographic channel mentioned that a liger skull can generate a bite force of around 1000 pounds, whereas; a tiger skull can produce around 400 pounds of bite force. So when it comes to the bite force a liger has a huge edge over the tiger to take down its prey or any other competing animal.

A liger has a growth rate of 1 pound per day during its growth year. The growth year cycle for a liger is first four years of its life. A tiger also has a growth year cycle of four years but the growth rate of a tiger is almost half a pound per day. In captivity a liger eats around 25 to 30 pounds of meat per day, whereas; on the other hand a tiger eats around 10 to 15 pounds of meat per day. Therefore; a liger's growth as well as the food consumption is 2 times greater than that of the tiger.

A liger has a tawny brown color of its fur from the back with brown stripes on it. A tiger on the other hand has orange fur with black stripes on it. According to many observations it is believed that a liger has more stripes pattern on its fur than that of the tiger. The pattern of the facial markings of the liger is similar to that of a tiger. Moreover; both liger and tigers has white fur at their chest and belly. Furthermore; both liger and tiger also have same pattern of skin and ear color (black) as well.

A tiger doesn't have a big mane like a lion while mane is present as well as absent in some ligers. A liger's mane is not that much huge like that of a lion but it is still big enough to be visibly seen. A tiger's mane is very small as compared with a mane of a liger. Some ligers do not have any mane e.g., Hercules the liger (World's Biggest Liger) and his brothers Zeus, Sinbad and Vulcan do not have any mane around their necks.

Some people mistakenly consider golden tabby tigers as ligers. Golden tabby tigers are somewhat similar to ligers when it comes to their fur color. Like ligers they have tawny brown fur and brown stripes on their skin. However; golden tabby tigers are smaller in size than tigers. This is the key reason many people who visit zoo mistakenly consider golden tabby tigers as well.

A liger has an average speed of around 50 to 60 miles per hour. Dr. Bhagavan Antle and his team at Myrtle Beach Safari at South Carolina measured this speed of the liger. On the other hand; a tiger also has an average speed of around 50 to 60 miles per hour. A tiger can leap at a distance of at least 4 meters while a liger can also leap at a distance of 4 meter as well. Tigers are good climbers and they are capable of climbing trees while ligers lack tree climbing because they are too much heavy.

When it comes to roaring; a liger roars like a lion which can be heard from at least five kilometers away. On the other hand; a tiger's roar can be heard from only 3 kilometers away. A liger also chuffs like a tiger. Chuffing is believed to be a friendly sound gesture by a liger. According to Dr. Bhagavan Antle a liger has a mild personality and he inherits this mild personality from tigers. Some people believe that ligers have a confused personality which liger experts strongly deny. Just like tigers ligers are also great swimmers and love to swim as well.

The average age of a liger is around 15 years. On the other hand; tigers in the wild live for around 8 to 10 years while in captivity they live for 10 to 15 years. The highest recorded age for a liger is around 24 years (Shasta the liger). A group of ligers in a German zoo and in South African zoo lived for 18 years while tigers in captivity have been recorded at their ages in 20s as well.

All the ligers in the world are in captivity. Tigers live in the wild as well as in captivity. There are only 3000 tigers left in the wild while in captivity there are around 20,000 tigers globally. Ligers are very rare and there are hardly 100 ligers in the world. Majority of these ligers are in United States and China. No evidence of a liger has so far concluded the presence of the ligers in the wild but there are some on-confirmed reports that they existed in India's Gir forest and in Singapore.

Author: Usman Masood

Published Date: November 19, 2016

Last Modified: November 19, 2016

Publisher: LIGERWORLD

Genre: Liger, Lion, Tiger, Cross Breeding, Hybrid, Panthera

Copyright Holder: © Ligerworld - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Year: 2016

Liger Sources & References

• 1. Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes. Cambridge University Press. Seidensticker, J., Christie, S. & Jackson, P., (1999).Ligers and Tigers
• 2. Lions, Tigons, and Prizzly Bears, Oh My! Synapse: The Boston University Undergraduate Science Magazine. Lions, Tigers and Ligers
• 3. The Atlas of Endangered Animals: Wildlife Under Threat Around the World. Cavendish Square Publishing. Atlas of endangered Animals
• 4. Half lion, half tiger - it's the baby liger... and his 64 stone brother. DailyMail. Sutherland, K. (2010). Liger = Half Lion and Half Tiger
• 6. Animal Crackers of "ligers" and "Tigons" (2005). Ligers, Tigons and Tigers Xnihya News Agency.
• 9. Ligers and Tigers. Brown University Ligers and Tigers.

Ligers and tigers have big distinction from one another. For any further information please contact us at sunnyitec@gmail.com.