I personally don't consider tigers and lions being the same species at all.
They are in fact not the same species. Both belong to the same genius, Panthera.
And if they interbreed they produce hybrids.
It is well known that crossbreeding of donkeys and horses produces sterile offspring. In the case of the liger or tigon the males are sterile but the females can reproduce with male lions.
That mules are sterile but ligers and tigons are not is because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes ( 64 and 62 respectively ) while lions and tigers both have 38.
>I personally don't consider tigers and lions being the same species at all.
They are in fact not the same species. Both belong to the same genius, Panthera.
And if they interbreed they produce hybrids.
It is well known that crossbreeding of donkeys and horses produces sterile offspring. In the case of the liger or tigon the males are sterile but the females can reproduce with male lions.
That mules are sterile but ligers and tigons are not is because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes ( 64 and 62 respectively ) while lions and tigers both have 38.
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