What's a tigon anyway?

With EMC's announcement tomorrow of their DMX follow-on,code named "Tigon,"  there will likely be some questions about what the heck a tigon is.  It's a  cross between a male tiger and a female lion - not to be confused with a liger, which has the gender roles reversed.

If you like genetic abnormalities, tigons and ligers are pretty blasted interesting.  Ligers tend to be very large, while tigons tend to be much smaller and also have somewhat stunted lifespans.  An interesting hypothesis based on physiology is linked here.

The photograph that is above left shows a tigon. Its markings are distinctly different from the tiger and lion shown in the photograph on the lower right, which shows the tigon manufacturing process - something that there is not much evidence of in the wild.  Who'd a thunk THAT would be on the Internet?

One of the challenges tigons face is their sound. Apparently the lion mother and tigon cubs become confused by the uncharacteristic noises they each make. Then there is the problem that lions are social animals and tigers are solitary.  Biologists believe this is probably very confusing.  Imagine roaring your head off and having your progeny just walk away like they don't even hear!

Following Haldane's Rule, hybrid mammals are usually sterile, but not always. In the case of large cats, female ligers have been known to reproduce.

The most familiar hybrid, the mule (offspring of a male donkey and female horse) is also sterile but clever researchers from the University of Idaho and Utah State University have found a way to reproduce mules with cloning technology.  Somehow I doubt the animals involved with this procedure had the same level of satisfaction as the large cats.

I have to give EMC credit with this one. Maybe it will start a new trend in code naming technology projects after biological science, like a new dedupe technology code named heterogametic sex. 

Comments

[Bill]

If you recall, the name used for the EMC CLARiiON FC4700/IP4700 platform, prior to its release was "Chameleon", pointing at the duality of its nature (SAN or NAS).

Could this be a SAN+NAS box? Are they OEMing Pillar? (hahaha)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

[네 엄마]

Chuckie is all over it with two posts so far. No virtualization, no thin povisioning; just the same old, same old, in a bigger form factor. Seems the Evil Macine Corp never learns. Sure, you can go there, and once you get there you supposedly can finally migate 여기 저기, but you have to pay to get there first: Remember Storagezilla's comment, EMC doesn't do free. In fact, they extort you for every cent they can get.

Repackaged entrails does not equal innovation. It's an insult to EMC customers; 날 물지, or words to that effect.

[angle]

I think You should add some videos and take off the picture of them humping thats disgusting.