Maximum size of prey that a single male lion or tiger can kill

[GuateGojira]

(03-15-2020, 12:54 PM)johnny rex Wrote: Thanks Guate, so both male tigers and lions can kill an animal up to 1000 kg singlehandedly. Correct?

To be honest, I have evidence of tigers killing animals of that size, but not lions. Normally lions hunt large bulls in group, not single handle, but as tigers and lions are so similar I see no reason why a lion can't kill a large bovid if had the oportunity.

In fact, the heaviest bull of African buffalo that I know is 900 kg:

*This image is copyright of its original author

That means that, hipotetically, the largest prey that a lion can kill alone will be that.


I saw reports of lions killing giraffes alone, but we don't know the weight and age of those specimens, incredibly it seems that is easier to kill a giraffe than a buffalo. Also I know of reports of lions huting rhinos, hippos and even a full grow female elephant, but in all those cases the lions attacked in group, so we can't take it in count.

The report of @peter about the rhinos and tigers in India is interesting, however those cases of "tiger vrs rhino" are very rare. In this case, we can say that the maximum prey that a tiger can kill will be an adult rhino, that can weight between 1,600 to 2,100 kg (Owen-Smith, 1988). However, as those cases are rare, the maximum prey that a tiger can kill alone is the gaur (Karanth, 2013). Reply