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

[Apex Titan]

Here's some follow-up notes and information about the recent incident that happened a few days ago of a tiger killing a large male brown bear in a fight, which also refutes and debunks the wild speculations, lies, empty claims and guesswork made by the bear posters about this account.

Because the big male brown bear was killed in winter, the bear posters, automatically assume (without any shred of evidence at all) that this was a "weak shatun-bear" dying from starvation, which is absolute nonsense and pure guesswork. It is a known fact, that when there's plenty of food in the forest for bears, some well-fed, healthy bears will still roam the forest until mid-December and go into hibernation later than other bears. Some bears even wake up very early during their winter sleep and come out of their dens and walk the forests.

I have seen plenty of footage (videos & documentaries) and pictures of large, well-fed healthy brown bears roaming the forests during winter time because there was enough food in the forest. Not all bears hibernate on time. Many bears roaming the forests during winter are not shatun-bears, some are perfectly healthy, well-fed bears in excellent condition.

In fact, the large male brown bear was NOT A SHATUN (connecting-rod), but was a bear just about to go into hibernation, but didn't have time, because he was attacked and killed by a tiger before he could:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://rg.ru/2022/11/30/reg-dfo/v-habar...vedia.html


There are at least 15+ different news reports about this incident of the tiger killing and eating the large male brown bear, even some of Russia's biggest and most popular media outlets (news reports & articles) have reported this case. Which also verifies this account. And not a single report even implies, let alone mentions that the killed brown bear was a "weakened shatun-bear". None.

There were three people (forest guards) at the scene of this killing, and all authorities were able to conclusively determine that a moderate-sized male tiger (heel width 10 cm) killed a larger male brown bear, of impressive size (palm callus width of 18 cm) in a prolonged fight. The tracks in the snow, blatantly showed that a fierce battle took place between the tiger and brown bear, in spite of the obvious signs and undeniable evidence at the scene of this kill, some bear posters still ignorantly refuse to accept this account. Unbelievable and ignorance, fanaticism and denial of the highest order.

Yuri Kya, a chief forest engineer, and one of the men who found the killed bear, spends his whole life working in the taiga, he spends more time in the forest than any biologist or scientific researcher has, with the exception of Alexander Batalov, who lives in a cabin in the Durminskoye forest. Yuri Kya and the other forest guards would easily be able to determine that a fight took place between the tiger and bear by the tracks on the ground. In fact, even most laymen would be able to clearly tell what happened. The ground (snow) would be trampled up with tracks clearly showing a vicious struggle between a tiger and bear took place. Which is what they clearly saw and specifically reported!

Here's the video of this incident, and all 3 men were able to easily establish that a tiger fought, killed and ate a large male brown bear; In fact, they were even able to tell where the fight began. The fight began next to the forest near the index sign:

https://www.hab.kp.ru/video/embed/907889/

Also, the reason why the remains of young Himalayan bears were repeatedly found in tigers excrements, is not because tigers mostly target young bears when hunting them, its because this bear mating season, large male bears drove the young bear cubs away from their mothers, and the tigers took advantage of this and killed all the young bears. All large predators will kill and consume the cubs of other predators. This had nothing to do with tigers deliberately hunting bears for food in these cases.

When male tigers hunt Himalayan bears, they habitually attack and kill adult Himalayan bears of all ages and both sexes, and even the largest male bears (200+kg) are hunted and killed, as confirmed by my previous posts in this thread. As big game specialists, tigers always prefer large prey, and bears, due to their large mass, are important seasonal prey for tigers, as recent scientific studies and research shows. Hunting and killing young bears and cubs for food consumption will not sustain a tigers energetic requirements and nutritional needs, thats why male tigers regularly prey on adult bears (I posted plenty of information on this).

Just last month in October, 27 - a report was published in which it states that tigers are the reason why the number of bears in the Khekhtsir reserve has decreased. The report also mentions that this year, there was enough food and a good harvest of acorns for bears in the forest, so not all brown bears went into hibernation on time. Some healthy, well-fed bears still roam the forests until mid-December.

*This image is copyright of its original author

"There is enough food now. Our bears collect cedar cones. Also this year a good harvest of acorns. At the same time, they now have almost no competitors in the face of wild boars."...

"The numbers of bears has decreased on the territory of the reserve."

"In particular, before August we met bears with babies, but now they are gone. Apparently, during bear weddings, large males drove them away from their mothers, and tigers took advantage of this."

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Bears in the forest can be found until mid-December. At the same time, we are not talking about connecting-rods." (Not shatuns).

*This image is copyright of its original author

"But in general, some clubfoot will walk the numbers (forest) until December 15, especially if there is food."

*This image is copyright of its original author

"But not all clubfoot become connecting-rods (shatuns). If they have accumulated enough fat."

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.dvnovosti.ru/khab/2022/10/27/147618/

Here's more pictures of the killed and half-eaten carcass of the large male brown bear:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Authorities and forest guards at the scene of the murder:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Here's another 13 different news reports about this case, and not a single report, nor did the authorities mention or even imply that the killed brown bear was a "shatun-bear" (connecting-rod):

https://amurmedia.ru/news/1405911/

https://www.hab.kp.ru/daily/27477/4684605/?fromrss=582

https://vk.com/wall-104014369_1614

"It is noted that the dead bear was of impressive size. Presumably, a male Amur tiger named Odyr dealt with him. However, he himself, apparently, was not injured."

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.mk.ru/incident/2022/11/28/am...vskom.html

https://info24.ru/news/tigr-rasterzal-me...dnike.html

https://hab.aif.ru/incidents/tigr_ubil_m...vskom_krae

http://khabarovsk-news.net/society/2022/...77001.html

https://www.dvnovosti.ru/khab/2022/11/28/148892/

"A large bear (the width of the callus of the front paw is 18 cm), not having time to hibernate, became the prey of the tiger."

"The fight turned out to be long, but the tiger was not injured - the experts did not find bloody stains on the place where the predator lay (rest), which was found next to the half-eaten carcass of the bear."

https://khabarovsktv.ru/news/amurskiy-ti...vskom-krae

https://vk.com/zapovedamur?w=wall-104014369_1614

https://www.interfax-russia.ru/far-east/...vskom-krae

https://iz.ru/1432853/2022-11-29/amurski...vskom-krae

https://transsibinfo.com/news/2022-11-29...ae-2602227

Conclusions:

1) This is a 100% undeniable, irrefutable and confirmed account of a large male brown bear (of impressive size) that was killed by a smaller male tiger in a one-on-one fight. The large bear was unable to even injure the tiger, suggesting the tiger dominated the fight.

2) This account, along with Batalov's account, shows that moderate-sized male tigers (160-180 kg) are more than a match for large male brown bears (270 - 400+kg), and are able to kill much larger male brown bears without sustaining any injuries whatsoever.

3) This account confirms that even large adult male brown bears are not safe from tigers, and do get attacked, killed and eaten.

4) The fact that not a single report, nor the forest officials and authorities mentioned or even hinted, that the killed bear was a 'shatun', and the fact that the bear had the energy and strength to put up a prolonged fight against the tiger, strongly indicates that it was a healthy, well-fed large male brown bear that decided not to hibernate early (which some bears do) and roamed the forest.

5) This year, there was a good harvest of food for bears in the Khekhtsir reserve, so the bears were well-fed and had plenty of food to fatten up for hibernation. Due to the abundance of food, some brown bears did not hibernate on time and continued to roam the forest.

6) Its likely the male tiger 'Odyr' spotted this large male bear and decided to eliminate him from his territory. Tigers are highly intolerant of rivals, threats and competitors in their territory.

7) This account confirms all the fight statistics, testimonies and reports from experienced biologists, naturalists and hunters, of tigers winning most fights against brown bears.

8) Its also likely the male tiger is an experienced bear-killer and had a successful hunt for a large adult male brown bear. Batalov in his 2017 publication (Summer life of tigers) stated that some adult male tigers, depending on their self-confidence, will attack almost any bear.

9) This bear could have weighed anywhere from 290 - 400+kg. The largest Kamchatka brown bear weighed by Seryodkin had a palm callus width of 18.5 cm, and weighed 410 kg! Whereas this big male brown bear killed by the tiger has almost the same palm callus width - 18 cm. Meaning this killed bear was very large.

10) Its known (established by scientific research) that Amur tigers especially prefer to hunt and eat bears in autumn, so its possible that the male tiger 'Odyr' saw a large, fattened male brown bear and decided to kill and eat him, but since large brown bears have thick-set necks coated with layers of muscle and fat, making them difficult to kill instantly (in some cases), the initial attack (by the tiger) turned into a head-on fight, in which the tiger killed the bear. Accounts of tigers attacking and killing large brown bears in prolonged fights have been reported more than once in the recent past.

All in all, this verified account has finally ended the debate once and for all, and confirms that even very large male brown bears do get attacked, killed and eaten by tigers, and proves that even a moderate-sized male tiger will fight a large male brown bear head-on and kill him without sustaining any injuries.

This account also shows why the Amur tiger is the undisputed apex predator and dominant carnivore of the Amur-Ussuri taiga forests, at the pinnacle of the food-chain, and is widely regarded by the natives, biologists, zoologists, naturalists, hunters etc, as the "Master, Lord, King & Owner of the taiga." Reply