We have seen lions. We have seen tigers. But we haven’t seen ligers.

A liger is the offspring of a male lion and female tiger. Because lions and tigers are in the same genus, they are able to technically breed with each other despite being different species. When a male lion and female tiger go on a romantic date (so to speak), a liger is born. What makes ligers so special? Well aside from the fact that they are a crossbreed (that is only found in human captivity, not out in the wild despite what urban legends may have you believe), ligers are the largest cats known to man.

How big are we talking? The following liger, named Hercules, is over 10 feet long and over 900 lbs. Check the beast out:

Here are some more liger photos, the first one being a liger couple while the second is of a liger and its trainer:

[Thanks Eric! | via Ligerliger, Wikipedia]