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The Liger
The liger is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. It is therefore
a member of genus Panthera. It looks like a giant lion, with diffused tiger
stripes. Like tigers though unlike lions ligers like to swim.
Known ligers exist due to human influence, either by deliberate human
intervention, or by humans putting lions and tigers in enclosed spaces together.
In natural conditions tigers and lions generally do not inhabit the same
territory.
The two species coexist in the wild today only in the Gir forest of India. The
one place where it was rumored that giant cats of a much larger size once
roamed. Although their respective ranges used to intersect in Persia, China and
perhaps also Beringia. Even where they do coexist, there have been no confirmed
reports of interbreeding, though there are long-standing claims that this has
happened.
Ligers grow much larger than tigers or lions. This is because female lions and
male tigers transmit a growth-inhibiting gene to their descendants. Being the
offspring of a male lion and female tiger, the liger does not have the
growth-inhibiting gene and grows much more. They will grow constantly through
their lifespan until their bodies cannot sustain their size anymore.
The average male liger may weigh up to 880 pounds, about twice the average for
male Siberian tigers, the largest non-extinct, naturally-occurring member of
family Felidae.
Male ligers are sterile, where as female ligers are often fertile and can be
mated to a tiger resulting in ti-liger offspring or to a lion resulting in
li-liger offspring.
Cited Paraphrasing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger