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

[Apex Titan]

To add to Peter's remarks about Amur tigers hunting brown bears and bear specialists. I think another important factor to consider is that in the Sikhote-Alin, tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality (Pikunov, Seryodkin). The brown bears of the Sikhote-Alin are huge bears, rivaling the sizes of the Alaskan and Kamchatka brown bears. (Sergey Kolchin, 2022, M. Krechmar, 2005).

The fact that tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality, proves that tigers are a major threat and danger to brown bears in the Ussuri taiga. So it's not surprising that some male tigers become brown bear specialists, and sometimes, even large male brown bears fall prey.

Olga Krasnykh (back in 2018) stated that she noticed that there are not many brown bears in Primorye (tiger territories) compared to Kamchatka and Sakhalin, regions which are devoid of tigers. Adult brown bears in the Kamchatka peninsula and Sakhalin region lack natural predators, but in the Primorye region, adult brown bears do have a natural predator - Amur tigers. Krasnykh's observations, as well as other evidence I posted in this thread, strongly suggests that Amur tigers regulate the populations of brown bears in the Primorsky territories.

The only natural predators of adult brown bears are tigers or other bears:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.thoughtco.com/brown-bear-facts-4175063

Monitoring, Survey, Utilization and Threats to the Populations Of Asiatic Black Bear and Brown Bear in Sikhote-Alin

Pikunov D.G., Seryodkin I.V. 

Tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality in Sikhote-Alin:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Access full text (study) here:

https://global.wcs.org/Resources/Publica...00000.aspx

While I have no doubt that many young tigers learn (referring to Peter's comments) about brown bears by interacting with them at kill-sites, I also think it's very likely that many young tigers learn how to kill bears by watching their mothers hunt and kill bears. Also by feeding on bear kills made by their fathers.

Several recent cases over the years (2014 - 2020) prove that young Amur tigers and tigresses (juveniles & adolescents) will also actively hunt bears. The juvenile tigress 'Philippa' actively hunted and killed Himalayan black bears and wolves! For 6 months, specialists repeatedly found the remains of bears that she had killed and eaten. The juvenile tigress 'Elena' also killed and completely consumed a bear of unknown species. And the young male tiger 'Vladik' also actively hunted bears, preferring to hunt bears in autumn.

These young tigers and tigresses never learnt about bears from interacting with them at kill-sites, but purposefully hunted down, killed and ate bears. Most likely, taught to them by their mothers. Its a fact that tigresses are far more active at bear-hunting than many people assume.

Wildlife Filmmakers recently captured footage of this tigress hunting for bears: (Frozen Planet II, 2022)

*This image is copyright of its original author

Peter said that Amur tigers are different (regarding bear-hunting) from other tiger subspecies, well, this is definitely the case. Everything I've read strongly indicates that in the Russian Far East, tigers seem to clearly have a bear-hunting culture. Although both Bengal and Indo-chinese tigers will hunt bears at any rate, Amur tigers hunt bears on a far more regular basis, to the extent in which bears are actually one of the Amur tigers favourite prey items. 

In both the Primorye and Khabarovsk regions, bears (in summer and autumn) are hunted and killed on a regular basis. Amur tigers are true bear specialists.

Amur tigers are different in this respect, some tigers actually prefer hunting and eating bears instead of ungulate prey animals. For Amur tigers, bears are a delicious delicacy. (Viktor Storozhuk, 2017). 

"Some striped predators prefer this delicacy (bears) to ungulates, this is normal behaviour for them."

https://iz.ru/677772/2017-12-01/tigr-i-l...-natcparke

https://primamedia.ru/news/650351/

http://programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/tiger/news/25644

The frequency of bear-hunting among adult tigers likely has an affect on the cubs. This is probably why some juvenile tigers are not afraid of attacking and killing bears. From a young age, they were most likely taught by their mothers, who often brought bear kills home, or witnessed their mother kill bears, that the bear is a prey item.

Its also well known that even male tigers will sometimes share his kills with his family. If a male tiger shares his bear kills with the tigress and cubs, chances are that the cubs will learn that bears are a food object for them.

I'll post some of the accounts I mentioned above, so people can read for themselves.

Juvenile tigress actively hunting Bears and wolves

"Philippa the tigress has been living in the wild for almost half a year. She not only confirmed her excellent hunting skills, but also surprised by the variety of her diet and her stable schedule: a successful hunt with a tigress every six to eight days. For six months, the tigress's diet included: Himalayan bear, wolf, roe deer, wild boar and (red) deer. The remains of smaller prey are not always found." 

"Of all the variety of "food items" available, only the elk remains, which she has not yet "tried" to eat. But young Philippa has everything ahead, she is only two and a half years old, - environmentalists said."

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://eaomedia.ru/news/629066/

https://vremya-bir.ru/2017/10/09/tigrits...ohotitsya/

"According to specialists from the Tiger Centre, Philippa has demonstrated extremely good hunting skills. She has regular – every six to eight days – and diversified prey, including Himalayan bears, wolves, roe deer, boars and Manchurian wapitis, on her menu."

https://conservewildcats.org/wp-content/...or-web.pdf

Here is the juvenile tigress 'Philippa' who was already a bear-killer at such a young age:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Juvenile tigress 'Elena' hunted and killed a Bear

Also note that this juvenile tigress even killed a large male wild boar with no problem:

http://programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/tiger/news/25882

https://mir24.tv/news/16364780/ne-zlite-...-ei-kabana

https://ampravda.ru/2019/06/13/089037.html

Young tigress 'Elena' chased huge bears which scattered in panic from her:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://mirnov.ru/rubriki-novostey/yeto-...ossii.html

This same young tigress hunted and killed a bear:  (6 September, 2020)

According to Vyacheslav Kastrikin, deputy director of the Khingansky state reserve for scientific work, during the next certification of one of the predator's clusters, the remains of the first medium-sized bear she had caught were found. 

“So far, it has not been possible to reliably establish what kind of bear was eaten by Elena - brown or Himalayan, but the fact itself is remarkable in that it is the first “clubfoot” in the diet of a tigress. And, having obtained it, she completely closed her trophy list for potential victims from large mammals. Of course, with the exception of the second type of bear,” says Vyacheslav Kastrikin.

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://livebir.ru/siela-miedviedia-i/

https://amur-tiger.ru/press_center/news/1477


Young male tiger 'Vladik' actively hunted bears

Vladik preferred to hunt bears in autumn:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://news.rambler.ru/incidents/388078...rodu-tigr/

https://ria.ru/20171231/1512028610.html

These young, inexperienced tigers and tigresses who are hunting bears at such a young age, as they grow older, bigger, stronger and more experienced, they'll start to hunt larger adult bears.

Adult bears are regularly killed and eaten by tigers, especially male tigers who even prey on large bears.

All in all, there seems to definitely be a bear-hunting culture among Amur tigers in the Far East Russian taiga. Incidents like this (pictured below) happen quite often, especially in summer and autumn:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply