About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.

The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.

Web Hoax Museum

Erm hehe
Who is Napoleon Dynamite?

I know this one, Shar! Only cos I saw the DVD. It's a movie and character. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/ I don't think it was even released here in cinemas.

At least, I hope that's who Alex means?

I've seen them - they've got some at the zoo in Canberra (Oz). Apparently there's also such a thing as tigons - where the father is a tiger and the mother is a lion.
But yeah, the people in Canberra say they're really rare too and only come from lions and tigers being kept in close proximity in captivity. Very cute though

ok I tell a lie - they don't have ligers in Canberra, they do have tigons though. Check out the link below... scroll down about half way...

http://www.zooquarium.com.au/cats.htm

"Napoleon Dynamite" is an alias Elvis Costello (which is also an alias) uses from time to time.

"It's practically impossible in the wild."

Its completely impossible in the wild, as to my knowledge the two species do not have an overlapping geographic range of occurrence. I do know the most eastern occurrence of lion is in the extreme west of India, but that is not tiger country yet I believe. They have different habitats too.

Quite right, LaMa. Although there used to be species of tigers and lions co-existing in the Asian realm.

...But if one ran really far and DID end up in ther other's territory, it COULD happen. It's not impossible. Tigers swim. Their lands still connect.

I looked up ligers and tigons for a project last year, so I knew it was a real animal. It's really quite interesting.

Many male lions can impregnate a female lion, so they have hormones that make their own baby grow bigger and bigger, so that their's will be the one that's born. To counter-act this, the female lion has hormones that stunt the growth of a baby, so that they won't grow too big and kill her while she's giving birth

A tiger is different. Only one male can make a female pregnant and they don't have those hormones. So when a male lion impregnates a female tiger, the baby will be born huge, much bigger than a regular lion, because there's nothing to stunt it's growth. When a female lion gets pregnant by a male tiger, the baby will be smaller than both it's mother and father, because of the hormones in the mother. That's the difference between a liger and a tigon.

Wooooo, a Liger, coooool.

I'm fairly certain we discussed this last year. Oddly, though, I can't find any postings containing "liger" or "tigon" from before this year. I'm not imagining it, am I? Help me Oh Spirit Of MOH!

Liger. Sweeeeet.

I thought it had been posted before also.

...but you're right...I can't find any blogs with it...

Ligers do exist, but, as already mentioned, only in captivity. I think ligers (like mules) are themselves sterile, so there will be no F2 generation, but I'm not certain of that.

It's not a new phenomenon. I first read of "Ligers" and "Tigons" when I was in elementary school-- which, as faithful readers of MoH know, was several hundred years ago.

interesting, i dont suppose the liger is also known for its skills in magic?

Our local zoo in Salt Lake (the Hogle Zoo) Had a liger at one point by the name of Shasta. However, by the time I ever went to the zoo, she had died, and they had actually stuffed her, and placed her in the hall of our large feline enclosure. She was there for many years, until the zoo management decided that having the stuffed carcass of a former exhibit animal was far too creepy, even for our small, and vaguely creepy, zoo. I don't know what happened to her after that. I will say that she, and the ligers pictured, looked nothing like Napoleon's drawing, which makes me smile even now.

A quick kistorical followup from:
http://www.hoglezoo.org/about/zoo.history.php

1948
Female liger is born May 14. Father a lion, mother a Bengal tiger. Named "Shasta" because 'she hasta' have this and 'she hasta' have that. Shasta died in 1972 of old age. Her taxidermy mount is now exhibited at the Monte L. Bean Life Sciences Museum at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah

utah eh? hmmmmm ...thats where napoleon dynamite was shot, jk i have no idea where that movie was shot, looks somthing like arizona though, thats close enough for me..... i wonder if theres any connection..........????? (=P)