Ligers in the Wild
Currently there are no ligers in the world because none of the current information sources in the world confirm the presence of the ligers. Therefore; all the ligers live in captivity. The numbers of ligers however within the captivity has raised over the past decade or so. According to Dr. Antle, currently there is a one in a billion chance in the wild that a tiger and a lion can mate in the wild. Tigers and lions are naturally big enemies of one another. If they will meet face to face, they will try to kill each other, rather than seeking love among one another. Moreover; both the lions and tigers live far away from one another.
However; there is one place in the world, where the lions and tigers' territories overlap. Only this place in the world can give a hope of any presence of the ligers in the wild. That place is India's Gir Forest which is famous for both lions and tigers. It is believed that hundreds of years ago ligers used to live at the Gir forest. The possibility is there but so far no proofs have been traced out yet. No tracking and forensic evidence is even launched there as well. But the possibilities of ligers can not be rejected there are India's Gir Forest. Hybrids do occur in the natural environment. According to National Geographic Hybrids and Cross-breeding is part of nature and it occurs 10% within animals and 30% within plants.
According to the recent documentary on National Geographic cross-breeding has been confirmed on abundance among the aquatic species specifically within the oceans that flow across the aquator. Each year a huge numbers of new species are born there. Therefore, if someone posits that ligers do not belong in the wild, or they may never exist in the wild, that is totally a wrong assumption. The possibility of the ligers just simply can not be ignored in the wild, if there is regulated population of the lions and tigers. But one thing is for sure that territory overlap should be considered as a core factor for assuming the lion tiger hybrids such as ligers and tigons.
Tigers were in so much abundance in the world, that they were spread across asia and Europe. But that was hundreds of years ago. In the current era tigers are almost near to extinct in the wild and their territories are stretched further away from the territories of lions. Even African lions are near to extinct as well in many part of the world. So when the species like lions and tigers are stretched for their survival, a possibility of crossbreeding between lions and tigers is even very very rare indeed.
Ligers weigh around 900 to 1200 pounds. The question is whether in the history of big cats, was there any other big cat which was that much bigger. The answer is yes. American lions which are now extinct were around 1200 to 1600 pounds. The saber toothed tigers also weighed around 1000 to 1400 pounds. For such big animals a continuous supply of food is a big challenge in the wild. And scientists do believe that the bigger size and food requirements of such big cats like Saber Toothed Tigers and The Great American lions led to their demise. So even if there will be a liger in the wild its appearance itself will be a big challenge for its survival.
So the existence of the ligers in the wild is a big question mark right now and all the evidence and theories pretty much indicate that their chances of existence are less than 1%. So the only chance to spot is a liger is within the captivity.