S.C. liger named world's largest feline

upi ^ | Sept. 13, 2013

[JoeProBono]

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.,- Guinness World Records announced the latest edition of its book includes a 922-pound South Carolina liger dubbed the world's largest living feline.

Sara Wilcox, public relations and marketing executive for Guinness World Records North America, said Hercules the Myrtle Beach liger, a hybrid of a lion and a tiger, appears in the 2014 "Guinness Book of World Records" as the world's largest feline, weighing in at 922 pounds and measuring 131 inches long and 49 inches tall at his shoulder, The Sun News (Myrtle Beach) reported Friday.

Hercules lives at the Myrtle Beach Safari wildlife preserve's area known as TIGERS -- The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species.

"We just knew that the largest living cat probably was the liger," Wilcox said. "We have not measured a liger before ... We are aware of other ligers."

[JoeProBono]

[DemforBush]

Just in case anyone's interested, here's the counterpart to the Liger, the Tigon:

Tigons don't get as big as Ligers because they don't lack a pituitary "shut off growth" gene like Ligers. (Tigons are male tiger, female lion children, btw. Ligers are the reverse.)

[1rudeboy]

LOL—they have choker-chains on those critters.

[DemforBush]

And, just for the heck of it, the Leopon (a leopard-lioness cross)

[Ken H]

So who would win a tiger v lion fight?* I've always heard that tigers would prevail.

(*No comments on Detroit sports teams, wise guys! LOL!)

[JoeProBono]

In the circuses of Ancient Rome, exotic beasts were commonly pitted against each other. The contest of the Asiatic Lions, the smaller version of the African Lion, against the tiger was a classic pairing and the betting usually favoured the tiger. A mosaic in the House of the Faun in Pompeii shows a fight between a lion and a tiger. At the end of the 19th century, the Gaekwad of Baroda arranged a fight between a lion and tiger before an audience of thousands. The Gaekwad favoured the lion, and as a result had to pay 37,000 rupees as the lion was mauled by the tiger.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_versus_lion

[Lancey Howard]

That is one big liger.

[Ken H]

Interesting. Discovery Channel paired various animals in theoretical showdowns. IIRC, they said a gorilla would beat up a tiger.

I'd have to go with polar bears as the baddest land animal.

[elkfersupper]

I once tried to manhandle a 4 lb. cat and got torn to shreds.

Don't want to get anywhere near a 1/2 ton one.

[Inyo-Mono]

These animal handlers appear to have a death wish. I hope for their sakes that the odds don’t finally catch up with them.

No kidding! I guess that they haven't read The Book of Deadly Animals by Gordon Grice where he writes about a Liger in Broken Bow, Oklahoma killing its keeper in 2008.

[Roses0508]

He looks like an enormous version of my ginger tabby. They even share the same belly shape. I wonder if they share the same laid back personality?

[Slings and Arrows]

[JoeProBono]

[beaversmom]

Lol rf. I wouldn’t want him “making dough” on my chest.

[Monkey Face]

NOT cleaning the litter box!

[Hot Tabasco]

Lol rf. I wouldn’t want him “making dough” on my chest.

LOL! Or meowing to get you out of bed to feed her...........

[flaglady47]

Here, kitty kitty....

[kaehurowing]

I’ve seen Jackalopes bigger than that, though.

[who knows what evil?]

ROTFLMAO!

[njslim]

Thats a lot of pussy......

Ah I mean pussy cat.......