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

[Apex Titan]

Before I post the 2nd part of my series on Amur tiger predation on bears, I wanna address an issue and make something clear for the general public who reads my posts on tigers and bears.

It clearly seems that bear posters, instead of putting their emotions, bias and preference to one side and carefully reading and assessing the information, evidence and accounts I post, would rather just focus on me (politics) being 'Mountain Lord', who in their mind, is the "enemy" of Bear fans. By doing this, bear posters ignorantly dismiss and ignore the information and evidence I post, although its solely based on research and observations from many renowned biologists, zoologists, specialists and researchers. - 100% authentic information.

Peter invited me on this thread to inform the public about tigers and bears, post facts (not my opinion) and good, reliable information. And thats exactly what I did and he appreciated the info. I provided all the links, sources, references and screen-shots, so everyone can directly access the info and see if I'm posting "misinformation". And am I? Far from it.

Bear posters, including the administrator of 'Domain of the Bears', were welcome to come and have a fruitful debate with me on this thread. If you think that I'm posting "false" or "incorrect" information, you easily had the opportunity to come try and refute it. The doors were open. But no, instead of doing this, the administrator of a bear forum & former mod of Wildfact would rather make lame excuses, spout false accusations and complain about the evidence and accounts I'm posting on a forum full of other bear supporters. Why? Is it because you know you can't refute my evidence & information? By acting this way, you indirectly acknowledge that my information is irrefutable and factual.

I noticed the same thing on Carnivora forum. When I was always posting evidence, data and accounts to back up my claims & opinions, bear posters were constantly just spewing their mere opinions, theories, assumptions and speculations. i.e. Mostly going off pure guesswork and following their own conjecture. In a court of law, you need evidence and reliable testimonies, not made-up theories, speculations and opinions. And this is exactly what bear enthusiasts (especially the administrator of Domain of the Bears) do all the time. In a professional debate, this would never be taken seriously.

I deal with facts and evidence, not baseless opinions and guesswork. But the people who only deal with opinions, slandering, guesswork and conjecture, want to attack and ignorantly dismiss people (Including expert authorities like Batalov) who deal with factual information and post evidence. Where's the sense and logic in this? 

Although vast majority of expert opinions and testimonies favor the tiger over a large male brown bear in a fight, and although all the fight statistics, reports & testimonies from experienced Russian hunters, naturalists and locals prove that the tiger wins most fights against brown bears, still, the administrator of the bear forum states that an adult male Ussuri brown bear would defeat an adult male tiger in 19 out of 20 fights, which is completely illogical and nonsensical. Nor does the administrator have any shred of evidence that even implies such a ridiculous outcome, let alone proves it. And yet, he has the nerve and audacity to call me a "juvenile tiger fanboy", when he's the one constantly spouting his baseless opinions, empty claims, and deliberately ignores evidence, whereas I'm the one always posting quality information, evidence and reports from leading experts, zoologists & researchers. Now where's the comparison?

Evidence, truth and facts will always overcome opinions, made-up theories, ignorance and lies.

Now to a former mod of Wildfact. (new member of Domain of the Bears) In our discussion on tigers and bears (previous pages), while I posted reliable accounts and evidence to back up my statements, all you did is constantly speculate, make big empty claims and state your opinions. To the point of accusing highly respected authorities like Batalov of "making up stories" to attract attention. And then on 'Domain of the Bears' forum, you had the nerve to call me a "fanatic", slander me and falsely accuse me of deliberately trying to spread "misinformation". Again, where's the logic and sense in this? How does opinions, slandering, lame excuses and speculations beat irrefutable evidence and authentic information from biologists & researchers?

Then you have the recently banned member (King Kodiak) from 'Domain of the Bears', who outright insults, demeans and says extremely vile things about tigers. I'm not gonna repeat the sick things he's stated, but you can go to that forum and read some of his posts, and you'll see what I'm talking about. And this same person has the audacity to accuse me of posting "pure misinformation" when my information is all research based, very credible and reliable. (Info from experts).... Unbelievable.

Now to address another issue....

When I say 'tigers dominate bears', some people, especially bear posters, automatically assume that I think (and implying) that "tigers completely dominate adult male brown bears" or "tigers regularly hunt and kill adult male brown bears", which is a false assumption and complete misrepresentation of my position. When I say 'tigers dominate bears' I mean AS A SPECIES, the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) dominates the Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus). Is tigers dominating brown bears just my opinion? No, its a fact. How?....

The Amur tiger is the dominant carnivore and apex predator in the ecosystem of the Ussuri taiga

Amur tigers are at the top of the food-chain, not the brown bear. The tiger is the one who deliberately seeks out to kill and eat the brown bear, not the other way around. The tiger is the predator, the brown bear is the prey. Adult male brown bears do not represent or make up the entire subspecies of Ursus arctos lasiotus. There's adult female brown bears, young adults, juveniles and cubs, all of which fall victim to tiger predation. Adult male brown bears only represent one specific gender & age class, not the entire species. However, there is reliable evidence that suggests that adult male brown bears maybe taken by tigers every now and then. (I will post soon)

So the fact that most individuals of the Ussuri brown bear subspecies (large adult females, young adults, juveniles & cubs) are hunted and eaten by tigers, and the fact that tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality, (Pikunov, Seryodkin), and the fact that recent research & observations (2015-2021) from Russian specialists has confirmed that even young, juvenile tigers also hunt both brown bears and Himalayan black bears, clearly shows that the Amur tiger is the dominant carnivore.

Due to predation on bears and position in the food-chain, the tiger, as a species, dominates the Ussuri brown bear. This is an undeniable fact.

What is an apex predator? An apex predator is an alpha predator that dominates the food-chain, without any natural predators. And this is exactly what tigers are throughout their entire range in the wild, an alpha predator at the pinnacle of the food-chain that regulates prey populations and often kills and eats other carnivores to remove competitors. Tigers prey on bears throughout their range, and especially in the Russian Far East, bears regularly fall victim to tigers. This is clear dominance. If this isn't dominance, then what is?

The Ussuri brown bear is not an apex predator, its an omnivorous predator and prey animal of the Siberian tiger. The tiger, as many biologists note, is the main natural enemy and predator of brown bears in the Far Eastern taiga. - Primorye & Khabarovsk regions.

Tigers regulate the number of bears & other predators

Reliable sources, scientific research & observations from Russia and Northeast China, clearly indicates that Amur tigers affect bear populations and regulate the number of brown bears. Is this my opinion? No, its based on research and observations from experts, not tiger fanboys. Again, this is clear dominance.

In addition, Sergey Aramilev recently stated that tigers regulate the number of bears, wolves and other predators that they predate on. This is dominance from the tiger, being the apex predator.

You can easily find many sources referring to North American brown & Grizzly bears as "apex predators", but you won't find any sources or scientific publications that refer to the Ussuri/Amur brown bear as an "apex predator", why? because the Ussuri brown bear is scientifically classified as prey of the Amur tiger, as stated in numerous scientific articles, studies and journals. In fact, this is common knowledge. Brown bears, including large mature females and young adult males, are on the tigers menu.

Throughout most of the brown bears range in the wild, the only other apex predators they co-exist with are cougars or wolves. But these predators are much smaller and weaker than the brown bear, which makes the bear able to dominate them in many interactions. But in the Russian Far East, the brown bear faces a far more serious problem and threat, they co-exist with Amur tigers, which are very large apex predators that are similar in size to the brown bear. In fact, some large male tigers can be bigger and heavier than some adult male brown bears.

This is a whole different story and problem for the brown bear, because now the bear is faced with a similar-sized predator that actively hunts and eats bears. While an apex predator like the cougar lacks the size, strength and weaponry to attack and kill a large adult brown bear, the tiger possesses all the size, power, weaponry and capabilities to do so. Hence why the Ussuri brown bear is faced with much greater danger and threat.

It clearly seems that some people (referring to the administrator of Domain of the Bears, Pablo & former moderator of Wildfact) can't handle the fact that such a large, powerful carnivore like the brown bear, which is at the top of the food-chain in Europe, North America, Alaska & Canada, gets dominated (as a species) and regularly killed and eaten by another carnivore. But this is not my opinion, its reality and facts of nature. - I posted plenty of hard evidence.

Even when brown bears usurp tiger kills, if you actually assess the data, you'll see that in vast majority of cases, the bear scavenges the tigers left-overs, after the tigers already gone. Wild boars and other scavengers do the same thing. Even large male brown bears only occasionally contest female tigers for kills, this is not a common occurrence. Numerous scientific research shows that even the largest male brown bears avoid contesting male tigers for their kills. Adult males of both species, as evidence suggests, usually avoid serious conflicts with each other.

So I suggest bear posters to stop focusing on the politics, put your emotions to one side, clear your mind and actually read and assess the information and evidence I'm posting on this thread about tigers and bears, because its all based on observations, experiences and research from Russian authorities, biologists and specialists. 

Its not my fault that tigers hunt and kill brown bears, its not my fault that tigers reduce brown bear populations in some regions, its not my fault that tigers kill and eat large bears, and its not my fault that brown bears suffer from tigers in the Russian Far East. This is not my opinion, assumptions and theories....these statements are factual based on solid research and observations.

My series on tigers and bears is to inform the general public and viewers about this topic. So people can learn the facts about tiger predation & interactions with bears, how and when do tigers kill bears, what type of bears do tigers hunt, how often do tigers hunt bears etc etc....Meaning informative posts.

Fanboys who deliberately try and spread "misinformation" only post empty statements, baseless claims and fake accounts. Not a whole landslide of good, authentic information, scientific studies, data, accounts and reports from various major experts, biologists, zoologists & researchers, like I've always done.

And "anonymous user" (I know exactly who you are) if you can't handle the facts and evidence, then thats not my problem. My job is to post good quality information and thats what I'm doing. Reply