Liger
The liger is a cross (a hybrid) between a male lion and a female tiger. It is therefore a member of genus Panthera. There is no scientific name assigned to this hybrid, but Panthera leo X tigris has been suggested. It looks like a giant lion with diffused stripes. Like tigers (and unlike lions), ligers like swimming.Ligers grow much larger than tigers or lions and it is believed this is because female lions transmit a growth-inhibiting gene to their descendants to balance the growth-promoting gene transmitted by male lions (this gene is due to competitive mating strategies in lions).---------------------------------------------------------------------------Known male ligers have all been sterile. Many, however, reach sexual maturity and copulate with lionesses, tigresses or with female hybrids. A. H. Bryden reported in "Animal Life and the World of Nature" (1902), Already, I understand, Mr Hagenbeck has mated the big lion-tiger hybrid with other pure-bred felines, but with no result. This referred to the liger bred in 1897.
Female ligers are often fertile and can be mated to a tiger resulting in ti-liger offspring or to a lion resulting in li-liger offspring. A behavioural research program in the USA has bred a female ti-liger called Lady Kali. At 2 years old she weighed 400 lb (180 kg).
Tigon(really simular to Ligers)
A tigon is the artificially bred hybrid of a male tiger and a female lion. There is no scientific name assigned to this hybrid, but Panthera tigris X leo has been suggested. The tigon is not as common as the converse hybrid, the liger, however in the late 1800s and early 1900s, tigons were more common than ligers. Tigons do not occur naturally in the wild, as the lion and tiger have very different behaviours and habitats.---------------------------------------------------------------------------Male tigons are sterile while the females are generally fertile. In India, a tigon named Rudhrani, born in 1971, was mated to an Asiatic lion called Debabrata and produced 7 "li-tigons" in her lifetime. Some of these reached impressive sizes - a li-tigon named Cubanacan (died 1991) weighed at least 800lb/363 kg, stood 52 inches/1.32 metres at the shoulder and 11.5ft/3.5 metres total length.
Really intresting stuff, most importantly the femals can be fertile. This really bends the rules of what exactly a species is.
Now we get into the very controversial Humanzee(also Chumans, smade dif as Tigons and Ligers)
Now looking at the genetic similarity, certainly seems possible after looking at Ligers.The Chuman (also known as the Humanzee or Manpanzee depending on which species is the father and which is the mother) is a hypothetical chimpanzee/human hybrid. Chimpanzees and humans are very closely related (most agree that they have 98.4% of their DNA in common), leading to contested speculation that a hybrid is possible.
There are other reporst but I dont need to give you the whole wiki articleThere has been no scientifically verified specimen, although one, a performing chimp named Oliver, was popularized during the 1970s as a possible Chuman/Humanzee. Genetic tests conducted at the University of Chicago concluded that, despite Oliver's somewhat unusual appearance and behaviour, he was a normal chimpanzee [1], he had the same number of chromosones as normal chimpanzees, but shared a slightly different gene code. The "hybrid" claims were possibly a promotional gimmick. As a result of being humanized (habituated to humans rather than to chimps), Oliver was said to be attracted to female humans, but did not mate with chimpanzees.
Some of this stuff was on discovery channel, sounds like a very intresting possibility.Some people believe that if a Chuman/Humanzee existed, and if it could bear young, then that would prove that humans and chimpanzees are the same species. This is based on a misconception of what constitutes a species: for example, a female liger — the hybrid offspring of a lion and a tiger — is fertile.
Anyways, just thought it fansinating...