Ligers weren’t meant to be. They are not the way nature intended animals to be.

But some ligers happened to appear in zoos.

And all that is ok, in the 1930’s zoos had bigger issues than to separate tigers and lions if they weren’t in conflict with each other.

But nowadays zoos and sanctuaries have no point in keeping ligers, other than to show off this freak of nature to visitors who want to see something unique.

Some zoos claim they breed ligers for conservation. But there is no point in conserving a species that would not exist in the wild.

Lions and tigers live mostly on different continents. Ligers are not natural, they do not occur in the wild. And ligers have great difficulty in producing an offspring.

Besides, the tigress suffers while giving birth to an over-sized cub. There were incidents when the tigress died while giving birth, and plenty of times they make C section on tigresses.

And ligers are not healthy either. They have a shorter life expectancy and plenty of them have genetic problems. There have been many instances when ligers have incomplete DNA.

Some people argue that they are depressed too, and while this is a theory worth considering, it is not yet backed up by scientific data.

But it is sure they develop arthritis more times than lions or tigers do because their body is too big and their bones are not suitable to hold that big body.

This is not to say that breeding of ligers should be made illegal. But breeding ligers solely for commercial purposes should be frowned upon.