In an attempt to frontrun the IPCC and the other folks at COP26 re: methane, we will be talking about cows, but first one of our prior bovine posts (there are many), From September 2017:
From Atlas Obscura:
The Unexpected Result When a Cow Faces Down a Pride of Rare Asiatic Lions
Exit, pursued by a heifer.
A creature so fearless it sends lions running for their lives: the cow. On a quiet Tuesday evening, a pride of rare Asiatic lions strolled through the village of Rampar, in the Indian state of Gujarat. They were likely looking for cattle to munch on, NDTV reported, but seem to have bitten off more than they could chew.In CCTV footage, the lions prowl carefully around the lane, until a lone cow wanders meditatively into the frame. The lions take a single look at the approaching bovine, it seems, and scram! Rampar is 10 miles from the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, home to the world’s last remaining population of Asiatic lions. The big cats are an occasional sight in Rampar and other local villages, where they’ve been known to attack humans and cows.
[our hero doesn't make her appearance until the 43 second mark, until then it's cats roaming in the dark]
In Gir’s 545 square miles, there are 650 Asiatic lions...MORE
When I was a kid and learned there were lions in India as well as in
Africa I had the natural question: Do they have, you know, kittens, with
tigers?
The answer is:
They can but as their ranges currently don't overlap it is very rare in the wild.
When they are bred in captivity the result is ligers (male lion/female tiger) and tigons (female lion/male tiger) with the former being the largest cats in the world, (550 kg/1,213 lb). This one, Hercules, is 900+ pounds, 12-feet long:
The tigons are pretty big as well but nothing like the ligers:
I later found out the babies aren't kittens, they're cubs, and later still found out how they came to be.
Even later, I read that Hercules can sprint at 50 mph and was once timed at 60 mph in a short burst.
For something that ridiculously big to be that ridiculously fast is...ridiculous.
The answer is:
They can but as their ranges currently don't overlap it is very rare in the wild.
When they are bred in captivity the result is ligers (male lion/female tiger) and tigons (female lion/male tiger) with the former being the largest cats in the world, (550 kg/1,213 lb). This one, Hercules, is 900+ pounds, 12-feet long:
The tigons are pretty big as well but nothing like the ligers:
I later found out the babies aren't kittens, they're cubs, and later still found out how they came to be.
Even later, I read that Hercules can sprint at 50 mph and was once timed at 60 mph in a short burst.
For something that ridiculously big to be that ridiculously fast is...ridiculous.
