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

[Apex Titan]

Tigers depress brown bear populations in the Khabarovsk Territory - Durminsky Reserve

Here's evidence that proves that tigers dominate and depress brown bear numbers in the Durminsky forest. 

This healthy, well-fed male brown bear (Not a schatun bear) was likely scared out of his den by a young tiger:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Video of the bear:

https://www.hab.kp.ru/video/embed/867743/

The bear ran away from his lair, as he was likely disturbed (likely attacked) by a young tiger:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Brown bears are rare in Durminsky. They prefer not to enter the habitats of tigers, so they can avoid conflict (predation) with tigers:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.hab.kp.ru/daily/27360.5/4541287/


So we have reliable information from 3 different regions which proves that tigers depress the numbers of brown bears in both Far East Russia and in Northeast China, Taipinggou Nature Reserve.

Olga Krasnykh (2018) stated, (based on her observations and the Russian biologists she talked to) that in Primorye, where most of the Amur tigers live, there are not that many brown bears there. But there are a lot of brown bears in other regions of Russia like Kamchatka and Sakhalin which are completely devoid of tigers. She adds, that the tiger is the 'King of the taiga' and expels brown bears from that region:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Interestingly, Seryodkin and Pikunov reported that tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality in Sikhote-Alin, Primorye. Recently, (2020) in Northeast China, biologists and researchers observed that a healthy population of brown bears and black bears in the Taipinggou Nature Reserve significantly dropped as soon as Amur tigers started to enter the reserve, crossing over from Russia. 

Before the Siberian tiger came to the reserve, biologists and researchers could always detect brown bears and black bears on infrared camera's, but when tigers came, after a few years of monitoring, biologists found that the number of bears was decreasing:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://news-chinaxiaokang-com.translate...r_hl=en-GB


In the Khabarovsk region in Durminsky reserve, where there's a good density of tigers, brown bears are rare in this area and avoid these areas because of the danger of tiger predation. As we can clearly see now, there is a consistent pattern going on, reliable reports and information from 3 different regions (and a country) Primorye, Khabarovsk and Northeast China strongly suggests that brown bears generally avoid areas with tigers to avoid predation by tigers and conflicts with them.

Its easier for the smaller Himalayan black bear to escape from tiger attacks, as they can flee up tree's, spend most of their day in tree nests and even hibernate in tree's. When confronted by a tiger, the Himalayan bear, even a large male bear, will instantly try escape by running up a tree to escape death. But the larger brown bear cannot do this, their generally too large, they live in more open spaces and are a ground dwelling species of bear, which makes them more vulnerable to tiger attacks.

In the Russian Far East, tigers, especially in summer and autumn, actively pursue, hunt and kill bears. Its impossible for brown bears to avoid the active pursuit of tigers, especially in summer and autumn when bears are out in the forest foraging for pine nuts, cones, berries and plants. So the best thing for the brown bear to do is, is to migrate to other safer areas where tigers are scarcer to avoid tiger predation. 

Based off the recent evidence and information I've seen, I have no doubts that adult male brown bears are occasionally hunted and killed by tigers. Note, adult brown bears are ranked as prey of tigers even in scientific papers and literature. The Siberian Tiger Center specialists even observed a tiger feeding on the carcass of an adult male brown bear. We know male tigers frequently hunt and kill adult female brown bears, so adult male brown bears must be killed now and then by experienced male tigers.

Recent reliable information (2018-2022) clearly shows that Amur tigers dominate Ussuri brown bears and depress their populations, just like how tigers dominate wolves in the Russian Far East. For a solitary apex predator like the tiger to dominate and depress the populations of both a pack-hunting predator (wolves) and a larger species of carnivore (brown bears) is very impressive and speaks volumes as to what kind of beast a tiger is. Reply