C-Section & Liger Cubs

There is a general opinion associated with liger cubs, that their mother (a tigress) has to go through C-Section procedure, whenever a liger cub is born. This is certainly not true! In majority of the cases that we have studied so far, a liger cub is not born, as a result of C-Section but rather through a normal birth procedure. C-Section or Caesarean Section in big cats refers to a surgical procedure, in which incisions are made at abdomen and uterus of a female big cat to deliver a litter of big cat cubs. Therefore; in the case of the liger cubs, no such surgical procedure and incisions are being applied at tigress's abdomen or uterus for the delivery of the liger cubs.

Almost; all the liger cubs, we have studied so far are born through vaginal birth rather than having a C-Section procedure. The reason this C-section news is is circulating a lot on the internet, especially on social media world is because of a myth that liger cubs are bigger at the time of their birth and it is not possible for a tigress to have a delivery through normal birth procedure. Therefore; as a result of that, a C-Section surgical procedure is always required. These arguments are absolutely false, as liger cubs at the time of their birth, are exactly the same size of the tiger cubs.

Associating C-Section with liger cubs is also a part of the negative and maligning propaganda against ligers in general in which all the negative health related issues are fabricated against ligers. Usually whenever; a litter of liger cubs is born anywhere in the world and as soon as it creates a buzz within online news networks or social media, you will always find a negative propaganda and rumors about ligers in the comment section. C-Section is one such maligning content which is stated as part of these comments. In our opinion this is absolutely wrong and it is very unfair to associate these things with ligers.

According to Dr. Bhagavan Antle who is studying and observing ligers for more than 30 years, “associating C-section with ligers is nothing more than just a mere rumor and a myth”. Furthermore; in his opinion liger cubs at the time of birth have same traits and physical characteristics as that of the tiger cubs and lion cubs, and therefore; it is very normal, natural and easier for a female tigress to deliver those cubs at the time of birth. However; after the birth liger cubs have the tendency to have a higher growth rate than the tiger cubs and lion cubs. This is a core reason that as soon as a liger reaches the age of 4 years it is bigger than the lions and tigers of 4 years old.

Based upon news research throughout the internet, we always read stories that mostly the liger cubs are born accidentally in which their owners had no idea. Furthermore; in some cases, their owner also had no idea that the female tigress was pregnant or not (Accidental Births). However; most importantly in all of these accidental births of the liger cubs, there was no indication of the C-Section procedure. For example, liger cubs that were accidentally born in Taiwan, Russia, China, South Korea and Germany never had any C-Section procedure at the time of their births. The owner of the zoo in Taiwan, where a litter of 3 liger cubs was born during the year 2010, said that he had no idea that his tigress was pregnant and he just awoke up and saw the birth of the liger cubs. No C-Section procedure was applied at that instance as well.

So, who is spreading this rumor and negative propaganda against the ligers and liger cub? There are several so called Animal Rights Activists which are spreading a negative message without any evidence and facts against ligers. Just to gain popularity and just to gather their niche market and earnings, these activists make up and stage such stories and spread it, throughout the social media and any other communication medium. Big Cat Rescue Center is one such example from Florida USA, who is paying at maximum to spread the negative message against ligers on social media. Moreover; they even spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on google search ads to support their baseless claims against ligers. One of their baseless claim includes C-Section for the birth of the liger cubs as well. Even if you search a term liger on Google their paid propaganda will always come as a paid advertising on the internet.