Freak Specimens

[Pckts]

(06-09-2014, 10:45 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote:

(06-08-2014, 11:13 PM)'GrizzlyClaws' Wrote:

(06-08-2014, 07:08 PM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: Exactly, liger are man-made creations with no purposes, except that of the show and the money-making business.

On the reproduction, only female ligers are able to breed, no idea why males don't.

The interesting point is that lions and tigers are the most different of the great cats, in therms of evolution, as tigers evolved from the original Panthera steam about 2,000,000 years ago, while lions evolved just about 600,000 years ago. However, they can breed very well and they share many characteristics that other great cats don't. Is this possibly an example of convergent evolution? I have never thought this before. [img]images/smilies/huh.gif[/img]
 



 

Which aspects that lion and tiger are more in common?

Apart from its size, i simply failed to see anything in common between these two panthera species.


 

Here are a few things that I think are similar, not equal, in tigers and lions:
1. Both are the top of the food change, evolved to be a super predator in they own habitats.
2. Both are the most social of the cats, even the cheetah is less sociable than the tiger.
3. Both have a similar sexual dimorphism, larger than in any other cat.

Morphologically speaking, they are not equal, that is for sure, for example:
1. They body proportions are different:
    Tiger - longer body, lower at the shoulder, shorter muzzle, larger brain case.
    Lion -  shorter body, taller at the shoulder, longer muzzle, shorter brain case.
2. They own roaring are different and are based in two forms, for that reason some taxonomist put the tiger in they own genus/subgenus Tigris.
3. They bones and skull proportions are different.

Obviously, these points are NOT absolute and we will need more data, but for the moment, I have found that tigers and lions are different in they morphology and closer in they ecology. This is completely different than the popular voices in some circles.
 

 

Its up to interpretation.
In terms of "similarities"
Where are you drawing the line?
Both are cats, walk on 4 legs, roar, have canines, claws, eat meat, etc.....


But if you want to dive deeper, and try to compare on a sub species level, if the species is Panthera,
then there are quite a few differences
Different skeletal structure, size, muscle composistion, fur, social behavior, hunting technique, climate, living terrain etc...

Its to vague of a question when asking to name similarities or differences.
Both are cats, so they ofcourse are going to share much more in common than not. But there are some major, major differences between them that seperate lions and tigers as much as lions to leopards, or tigers to cheetah.


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