lion vs tiger

Ok, but they can never reproduce as a "species of hybrid" then, which is what I was picturing. They need a "parent species" partner to reproduce. Does this work with lions also?

I think so. And yes to the hybrid point, because the males are, I think, invariably infertile.In the wild, I don't think the two species have ever been known to reproduce. It was possible until recently in Asia, but the Asian lion is now confined to one small area in Gujarat, north-west India, (where I saw them about 17 years ago).They used to be a lot more widespread, including towards the middle-east and Europe. They are the lions of the Bible and ancient Greek stories, not the African lions.They would have encountered tigers all over India, certainly, but no-one knows what would have happened. My guess is that the solitary tigers would keep away from the prides of lions, because of the numbers.

Actually there are more differences than you might imagine initially. Tigers can climb trees, lions can't. Tigers like water, lions don't. As for being social - tigers can also be social but from a distance. For example, they prefer to have surrounding territories occupied by family. eg daughters, brothers etc. This could be pride behaviour in a way.

I would like to see your source on this.It disagrees with what I learned in grad school by a huge amount.

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Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.

So, in fact, quite a lot of differences. It interests me, because when paleontologists talk about stasis in the fossil record, they could be looking at two such creatures, but several million years apart. They might assume them to be the same species, but the hard body parts cannot really give an indication of how much difference there could be.I like tiger, or tigers (I don't know which is correct!). I went looking for them in India as well, and saw a few. They look great in their habitat. Their camouflage makes them a lot prettier than lions, IMO!

Yes. Unless it's supposed to be the sum total down both branches.

Not sure I understand this hybrid point. If a tiger and lion reproduce and have a daughter we have fertile offspring. The daughter and grandchildren could then go on to mate with lions again and again. Are you saying that all great great great grandsons not matter how much lion they have in them can't mate with lions? This would be your hybrid species right? Almost lion but not quite.

Wikipedia - great apes to homo sapiens. 15 million years.

Yes. Yes, but these chidren would be less "hybrid" and more "original lion" every time this happens. Perhaps, I don't think it's ever gone that far though. Anyway, If there were a point where this was to occur, I think it will be classified as a lion, rather than a Liger or Tigon. Perhaps, but I'm not sure how you'd be able to tell that one apart from an actual lion, unless you'd unravel his entire DNA and find a little tiny spec of tiger DNA. Like I said, I'm pretty sure such a creature would be clasified as a lion, not a Liger or Tigon

I have taken many photos of lions in acacia trees that show lions do indeed climb trees. (Lions climb trees to escape heat, spot prey and to nap)A google search will find many examples.Edited by dronester, : clarity

That still isn't very informative. Are you basing this on twice the time since the human-chimp lineage divergence, which wikipedia gives as 5-7 million years ago?*ABE* alternatively did you perhaps misread the wiki Timeline of human evolution and think that the 15MYA date it gives for the great ape lineage diverging from that of the lesser apes was in fact the date for the homo lineage diverging from that of the great apes?*/ABE*TTFN,WKEdited by Wounded King, : Added alternative explanation.

Maybe a link would be nice. Instead of us having to search for the line in the myriad of places it could be.Remember context is everything.

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

I just meant that it wouldn't be possible to take a male and female half-breed and make an entire new sub-species from them which would be half-lion, half-tiger.Same with mules, because it's very rare for them to be fertile, so whenever you see one, it's actually the product of a direct cross between a horse and a donkey. Because they're actually more useful than either of the parent species as beasts of burden, people certainly would have bred them as a new sub-species if they could.

Uber cool! It is on my bucket list to see a tiger in the wild. I have friends who have lived in India who want to plan a Ranthambore National Park India safari some day. Is that the park where you saw the tigers? Any further suggestion or advise you could give?I'd prefer to spot a siberian tiger, but I don't believe there is any guide/tracker who wouldn't charge a LOT for this non-touristy service. I am off to Mongolia in September, unfortunately the range of Siberian Tigers does not quite extend to this area.

Wow..a lion to tiger in 4 million years and chimpanzee to human in 7 million years. Something doesn't seem to add up.