Great question. I had to look up what a liger was though; I’m learning a lot from you guys!
So, it’s pretty unusual for two different species to reproduce (usually for physical reasons). The only other thing I can think of is a mule.
Anyway, when they do manage, each cell has chromosomes from the daddy (say lion) and mummy (say tigress). These are probably different shapes and there probably be a different number of chromosomes. However, they have enough ‘blueprint’ between them to build a viable animal. However, when baby liger wants to produce sperm or egg cells (meiosis), the original cell splits into four (so four eggs or four sperm cells) each of which are made from a mix of DNA from lion and tigress. The mix doesn’t fit together well because they are different sizes and shapes and so they can’t produce anything viable. And no sperm or eggs means no babies.
Comments
fleurarcher6192 commented on :
btw for a liger a liion has to be male and the tiger has to be female otherwise it is called something else.
Tom commented on :
Like the difference between a Mule and a Hinny then…