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Originally posted by TheKhanzumer
Can't mate or won't mate? Lions and tigers are two very different species. They live in different areas, look different and have different behaviors. But people have artificially breed lions and tigers together. Their offspring, ligers, are not always infertile. Many ligers can still mate with both lions and tigers, or even other ligers. But does this make lions and tigers the same species. According to the current definition of the word species they apparently are, since they can successfully reproduce.
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They are in the same genus. Meaning, they both evolved from a similar animal, so naturally there DNA is similar. Therfore they could be artifiucially bred. The Liger probably has some mutations, witch may more may not be visible. If a lion and a tiger mated, hypathettically speaking in the wild, and had a cub, it probably wouldn't last out there. But,lets say they keep having kids. After a while, perhaps one gets an immunity to some disease that they kept dying from. Thats adaptation right there. If these animals lived on for quite some time, they would eventually evolve into a new species.