Liger vs Tigon

Liger and Tigon are the two rarest big cats. Both ligers and tigers are classified as hybrids within the big cat family. They are classified as hybrids because they are the offspring of two different big cats i.e., lions and tigers. The main and defining difference in between the liger and a tigon is that a liger has a male lion as its father and tigress as its mother while a tigon has a male tiger as its father and a lioness as its mother. Therefore; apparently the only difference in between the liger and tigon might looked to be the difference of gender i.e., a male lion or tigress or a male tiger and lioness.

A Liger is an offspring of a Lion and a Tigress. — A liger has a male lion as its father and a tigress as its mother. Photo courtesy of Liger Zoos

But apart from the gender differences of their parents both the liger and tigon have a lot of key differences in between them. You will be very surprised to notice that how gender swapping of lion and tiger in terms of mating results in two different kinds of big cats. This article tends to extract all the differences in between the liger and tigon in the most comprehensive manner.

Tigon results from crossbreeding of tiger and Lioness. — A liger is an offspring of a lion and a tigress while a tigon is an offsprin of a tiger and lioness. Photo courtesy of Liger Zoos

Ligers are considered as the largest among all the big cat species. On the other hand; Tigons are only competitive with lions and tigers in terms of their body size. When it comes to the body weight a liger weighs around 900 pounds while a tigon weighs around 400 to 450 pounds respectively. Therefore; in terms of its body weight a liger is twice bigger than a tigon.

Ligers are the biggest cats on planet earth. — Ligers are the largest big cats on earth. Phto courtesy of Latifa al Maktoum

It should also be noted that lions and tigers also weigh around 400 to 600 pounds respectively. Therefore; it wouldn't be wrong to consider Tigons' weight to be competitive with the lions. Hercules the liger is the biggest liger in the world and it weighs around 921 pounds. Guinness Book of World Records also rewarded Hercules as the biggest cat on planet earth as well.

Tigons are smaller than ligers. A liger is 2 times bigger than a tigon. — Tigons are smaller than ligers. Tigons weigh around 400 to 450 pounds. Therefore; a liger is 2 times bigger than a tigon. Phto courtesy of Latifa al Maktoum

Another difference in between the liger and the tigon is in terms of their body lengths. Ligers are also considered as the longest among all the big cats while tigons are not. On average a liger is as long as 11 feet long while the world's biggest liger i.e., Hercules the liger is almost 12 feet long in terms of its body length. On the other hand; Tigons are smaller than ligers in terms of their body lengths as well.

Ligers have the longest body lengths of all the big cats. — Ligers can grow up to 12 feet in length. They are the longest among all the big cats. Photo courtesy of National Zoo & Aquarium

Tigons on average are 8 feet long in terms of their body lengths. Therefore; the body lengths of Tigons are also similar in length to the lions. Tigers (Siberian Tigers) on the other hand are as long as 10 to 11 feet in terms of their body lengths.

Tigons have a body length of 8 feet long. — Tigons as compared to the ligers have a body length of around 8 feet long. Therefore; ligers have a longer body lengths as compared to the tigons. Photo courtesy of National Zoo & Aquarium

Very surprisingly when a liger is sitting on its hind legs and standing on its front legs; its length from feet towards the tip of its ears is almost 6 feet long. Whereas; Tigons are not as much heighted as the ligers and they may height up to 4.5 to 5 feet.

Ligers are the tallest among all the big cats. — Ligers can be six feet tall. They are also the tallest among all the big cats. Photo courtesy of Latifa Al Matkoum

While standing on their four legs, the ligers are also much heighted at their shoulders as compared to the tigons which are around 3.5 to 4 feet high at shoulders. Therefore; ligers are way ahead of tigons when it comes to their height measurements as well.

Tigons are not that much taller as the ligers. — Tigons are not as much taller as the ligers. They are around 3 to 4 feet tall in lenght while a liger almost reaches 6 feet. Photo courtesy of Latifa Al Matkoum

According to Dr. Bhagavan Antle; a liger's head is as broad as the shoulders of a man. However; when we measure the head size of a Tigon it is almost half the size of the liger. A liger's bigger head size also means that it has a bigger bite force as well.

Ligers have huge head size — Picture of a liger with a huge head size. Ligers have the largest head of all the big cats. Photo courtesy of Liger Zoos

According to National Geographic's program Super Cat, a liger's biting force is almost 900 pounds, whereas; lions and tigers have a bite force of around 400 to 450 pounds. The same can be true about the tigons as well because their head size measurements are almost same as that of the lions and tigers.

A tigon has its head size equal to the head size of a lion. — Ligers have bigger heads than tigons. However; tigons do have a head size as that of a male lion. Photo courtesy of Liger Zoos

A very common question always arises about ligers and tigons and that is why ligers are bigger than tigons? Despite being hybrids why tigons are unable to build up a huge size like that of a liger? According to the researchers; the answer lies within the lioness. A lioness possesses growth inhibiting genes while a tigress doesn't have them. Therefore; when a male lion is crossed with a tigress; the lack of growth inhibiting genes allows the offspring to grow even bigger in size as compared to its parents.

Ligers grow bigger because they lack growth inhibiting genes. — Ligers lack growth inhibiting genes which makes them bigger while tigons do possess growth inhibiting genes which limit their growth rate.

However; when a male tiger is crossed with a lioness; the growth inhibiting genes from the lioness are transferred to the offspring and therefore; tigons can only grow up to the size of lions or tigers. This theory does seem to have a lot of questions and flaws as well but this is the only possible explanation so far!

Tigons have growth inhibiting genes which restrict their growth. — Ligers lack growth inhibiting genes which makes them bigger while tigons do possess growth inhibiting genes which limit their growth rate. Photo courtesy of Mashhad Zoo

Both ligers and tigons have unique fur colors on their bodies. A liger has a tawny brown fur color which is much closely related to the fur color of its mother i.e., lioness. However; it is the presence of dark brown stripes on the fur of the ligers that makes it very unique. On the other hand; a tigon also has stripes on its fur but these stripes are much darker as compared to the stripes of a liger.

A liger has a fur color of tawny brown which is almost same as that of the lions. — Tigons have much darker stripes on their bodies than ligers.

Furthermore; a tigon's fur color is also much darker as compared to the ligher fur of a liger. It should also be noted that the faces of both ligers and tigons have facial marks i.e., spots on their foreheads. Both male ligers and tigons tend to have small manes around their necks. However; sometimes the mane is absent within the male ligers. For example the world's biggest liger i.e., Hercules the liger, has no mane around its neck.

Tigons have dark brown color of their fur with stripes on them. — Ligers have light brown fur with stripes on them while tigons have dark brown colored fur with relatively dark stripes on them. A tigon has a very unique fur color. Photo courtesy of Latifa al Maktoum

Even though both ligers and tigons are rare but the question is which one is rarer as compared to one another? According to the population estimates; there are almost 100 ligers in the world right now at different zoos and animal sanctuaries around the world. On the other hand; we don't see tigons as commonly as the ligers.

Ligers are more popular than tigons. — Ligers enjoy more popularity than tigons because of their huge size.

Therefore; we can safely say that tigons are even further rarer than the ligers. Another; reason for tigons to be so rare is that zoos usually prefer ligers to be bred because they grow bigger in size while tigons almost tend to be almost the same size of lions and tigers.

Tigons are rarest of all the big cat hybrids. — As compared to ligers, tigons are more rare because very few zoos in the world has tigons. Photo courtesy of Latifa Al Maktoum

Hybrids are long thought to be sterile. However; in the case of the ligers and tigons the female members of both big cats are fertile. We have same example if Ti-Tigon and Li-Tigon in the past. A Li-Tigon has a male lion as its father and a female tigon as its mother. On the other hand a Ti-Tigon has a male tiger as its father and a female tigon as its mother.

Female ligers are fertile. — Female ligers are fertile and they can easily give birth to li-ligers or ti-ligers.

Similarly; Li-Ligers and Ti-Ligers are also the offspring which are born through female ligers. A Li-Liger has a male lion as its father and a female liger as its mother, whereas; as Ti-liger has a male tiger as its father and a female liger as its mother. Male ligers and male tigons have been considered as sterile because they have never produced any offspring even after mating.

Female Tigons are fertile. — Both female ligers and tigons are fertile and they can successfully breed with male lions or tigers to produce the next generation of hybrid big cats. Photo courtesy of Latifa Al Maktoum

Wynnewood Zoo in Oklahoma, USA is so far the only zoo in the world which has both ligers and tigons at its premises. They even have Li-Ligers and Ti-Ligers as well at their zoo. Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina, USA is famous for breeding world's biggest ligers at its premises. You can even have a direct interaction with the ligers and tigons at Myrtle Beach Safari and Wynnewood Zoo as well. Apart from that in China also has a lot of zoos which have tigons and ligers at their zoo premises. These zoos include the Harbin Zoo, Shanghai Wildlife Park and Shenzhen Zoo etc. Mashhad Zoo in Iran also has a pair of beautiful tigons at one of its enclosures.