Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

Ligers and Wolphins and Tigons, Oh My!

All real animals, believe it or not.

A wolphin is half-whale, half dolphin, and not only do they exist, but they aren't sterile, like mules are. This one actually gave birth to a living calf, the calf being half-dolphin, half-wolphin, or three-quarters dolphin, one-quarter whale.

Check out this picture of the momma wolphin with her two parents. Top to bottom, we have the papa whale, the momma dolphin and their wolphin offspring.



And maybe you thought that a Liger (Half-Lion, Half-Tiger) was just an imaginary creature, "bred for its skills in magic." But no, they are in fact real creatures. Check out this one born in a Russian zoo!



And they're friggin' huge! Check out this pic!


But a liger is not just any hybrid of lion and tiger. The animal is only a liger if it is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Swap them around, and you have a Tigon, which are generally darker in color and much smaller.

And there are RULES about how to name them! For example, if a female tigon mates with a male tiger, the offspring is a Ti-Tigon. If a female liger mates with a male tiger, it is a Ti-Liger. You can also have Li-Tigons and Ti-Tigons. You can read all about them all here, including jaglions and leopons!

Of course, with all the modern advances in genetic engineering, soon we as a society will have to confront the tricky issue of animal-human hybrids. However, as PolySciFi points out, there might just be some genuine boons to be found in this brave new world.