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0505152246371patrick_liger.jpgLigers 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.