Ligers are known in popular culture for being pretty much Napoleon Dynamite's favorite animal, but a lesser known fact is that the lion-tiger hybrids are actually the largest of the big cats, more massive than either parent due to a quirk of genetics. As Razib explains on Gene Expression, parental imprinting is responsible for the difference in size: Imprinted genes from female lions usually keep "largeness" genes from the males in check, but female tigers have had no selective pressure to evolve such genes. The resulting offspring of a tiger mother and a lion father are the oversized ligers. For lovers of big cats, Brian Switek also offers some of his favorite feline photos on Laelaps.
- Why ligers are huge on Gene Expression
- "Big Kitties" on Laelaps
- Liger, Liger, Burning Bright ... on Living the Scientific Life
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tags: liger, hybrid big cat, streaming video
I'm not going to create a new category for this creature, because I never expect to blog about these critters again. At least it's clear that she's a mammal.
In good Denialism blog form, the San Francisco Chronicle's C. W. Nevius has urged readers to just ignore this week's anti-abortion protest in San Francisco. He makes a good point: