ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

SHADOW

The story on tigress 'Rachelle', tiger 'Ochkarik' and brown bear 'Chlamyda' is of interest to those who want to know a bit more about interactions between Amur tigers and Ussuri brown bears in the Russian Far East. The aim of the debate initiated by 'Apex Titan' is to get to answers to a number of questions. In your last post, which was both lengthy and interesting, you made it clear you're not interested in participating. This decision will be respected, meaning we will continue without you. 

As to your last post. The issues raised are of interest to those who read the story. For this reason, it doesn't seem superfluous to respond to some of them. 

Communication between wild tigers

Tigers are solitary animals. This, however, doesn't mean they never interact with other tigers. Male tigers have large territories. Although other adult males are not tolerated, females are. Research has shown that males often visit females with cubs. What is known, suggests male tigers are very aware of the cubs they fathered. When a tigress with cubs is killed, male tigers not seldom take care of the cubs. 

All of this suggests tigers are able to communicate with each other over distance. One of the means used is sound. Those who know (referring to Forest Officers and hunters in what used to be British India) agreed tigers use different sounds to interact. I'm not saying tigress 'Rachelle' was able to give a detailed description of the bear stalking and robbing her, but it is a fact the father of the cubs, tiger 'Ochkarik', quickly responded to her call.  

A video of their meeting was posted in this thread. I'm quite sure 'Ochkarik' was trying to reassure tigress 'Rachelle'. My guess is the big brown bear wasn't far away when 'Rachelle' called. He most probably also knew about the visit of 'Ochkarik'. Was this the reason he decided the time had arrived to leave? We'll never know. What we do know (referring to the interviews), is he left directly after tiger 'Ochkarik' visited tigress 'Rachelle'.

Wild tigers, as you most probably know, are known to lure some of the animals they hunt. Again, they use sound. Tigers, therefore, are able to mimic the sound of animals they hunt. This was observed in just about every region.  

The conclusion is wild tigers use sound to communicate with other tigers and to lure animals they hunt. This means they're quite able in this department. So much so, one has to take the words of Batalov serious. 

Anything to add? Yes. 

A number of years ago, I often visited a facility that had big cats. One day, the director called to tell me 7 captive Amur tigers had just arrived. He invited me to measure and weigh them. A few days later, I was there. The backside of the cages of the Amur tigers were largely blocked by wooden shelves. In spite of that, they were standing on their hind legs intently staring at something they couldn't see. That 'something' was a big male brown bear living in a cage about 50 meters away. The bear couldn't see the tigers. I positioned myself between both cages and felt something difficult to describe. A kind of vibration caused by a low frequency sound, I would say. I walked to the cage of the bear and saw he was terrified. A few weeks later, he was moved to another facility.  

Batalov

You showed us part of a conversation with Batalov. In July 2019, he said he had no idea about the whereabouts of 'Chlamyda'. He only knew he had left and hadn't been seen again. Credible? I think so. About a year later, in two different articles published in Russian magazins, Batalov said he was sure the big bear had been killed and eaten by 'Ochkarik'. A very different conclusion. Also credible? I think there's no reason to doubt his words. 

I recently talked to a few people about Batalov's opinion in 2019 and his opinion in 2021. They know nothing about tigers and bears, but they do know a few things about research and conclusions. They told me both answers do not have to be contradictory. Meaby Batalov really had no idea in 2019 and meaby he discovered something that took away all doubt not much later. It could be he discovered something he considered as compelling evidence.   

Tigers and bears in the Russian Far East

Over a century ago, Baikov wrote Amur tigers hunt bears almost up to their own size. Is there recent evidence of Amur tigers hunting largish bears? Evidence collected by biologists? Yes. More than once, they found the remains of adult female Ussuri brown bears killed by male Amur tigers. Most of the females killed were smaller, but at least two were about as heavy (150-200 kg). Are adult male brown bears included? Although there is some evidence male bears have been killed by male tigers in the period 1943-1960, most researchers think adult male brown bears are immune from predation.  

In the last decade in particular, however, opinions seem to have changed somewhat. Miquelle, who initially thought bears were 'too risky' to hunt, admitted he could have been wrong. Biologists found the remains of an immature, but quite large, male. They also concluded tigresses were more often involved in bears than they thought. A few years ago, it was discovered that some of the collared youngsters 'educated' in a rehabilitation center had learned to kill bears as well. One of them is 'Borya' (Boris), also known as 'Putin's tiger'. At a young age, this male killed at least 2 (youngish) bears and he wasn't the only one.  

Collared tigers offer biologists insight in the actual behaviour of tigers. A few years ago, those monitoring tiger 'Borya' discovered that he and a tigress he had met had hunted together. One of the animals they killed was an adult bear. I knew about tigers hunting together in India, but never read anything about a male and a female hunting bears together in the Russian Far East.

Questions 

Those interested in tigers and bears in the Russian Far East often debate about male tigers and male brown bears. Is an average male brown bear really out of the predatory reach of an average male Amur tiger if we add an adult tigress was able to kill a heavier brown bear (referring to the incident near the Tatibe River described by Bromlej)? Why is it tigers hunt brown bears in summer and fall in particular, when bears are close to their peak weight? Why is it some reports about 'large' bears killed by male tigers are dismissed, whereas reports about tigers killed by large bears, also lacking crucial information, are not? And what about the make-up of both species? Is an aggressive interaction between adult males limited to one fysical fight, or is there more to it? What's really going on between tigers and brown bears and why is it opinions and conclusions of biologists often are contradictory?  

What I'm saying, to conclude the post, is a debate would be of interest. We could continue swimming in circles (referring to opinions, heated discussions and all the rest of it), but I would prefer to talk to a man who really knows about both species. In order to prevent chaos, my proposal is to ask only one of us to contact him. 

In my opinion, 'Nyers' is the best possible candidate. He recently succeeded in contacting Batalov and offered to translate questions of members into Russian. A great opportunity to talk to a man who really knows about tigers and bears in the Russian Far East, I think.

If you change your opinion on participating, just say so. Reply