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

[Apex Titan]

Here's some additional information on tigers hunting large adult bears. After this post, tigers and bears in indigenous peoples culture and Amur tiger predation on bears - PART 2 is coming up, this will then conclude my series on tigers and bears. But any new information, accounts or data I find on this subject, I will continue to post it in the Extinction thread.

Russian special correspondent 'MK' who took part in an investigation with leading Amur tiger expert 'Pavel Fomenko' stated in his report, that Amur tigers fight with adult bears and almost always win. One tiger killed a bear and dragged its carcass for several kilometers:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.mk.ru/social/2014/12/18/v-kh...00-kg.html

He mentions that they followed the tracks of a tiger that killed a bear and dragged its carcass for several kilometers, and he was amazed by the tigers strength for doing this. This indicates that the bear was most likely a large bear or at least a good-sized adult bear, for him to be impressed at the tigers strength for dragging the bears carcass for a distance of several kilometers.

His statement of tigers even fighting with adult bears (brown & black) and almost always winning, again, confirms that not only do tigers attack and kill adult bears, but also win most fights against them. It also strongly suggests that predation on large adult bears by tigers, quite often lead to face-to-face fights, in which the tiger in almost every case, kills and eats the bear.

Sergey Kolchin, a leading zoologist, biologist & researcher, reports that large prey like bears can stand up for themselves (fight back) when attacked by tigers:

"But this is if the tiger's teeth are in order. And, of course, the paws, with the help of which the tiger makes throws, grabs and holds the caught prey. Red deer and wild boars, not to mention bears (the usual prey of adult male tigers), are able to stand up for themselves with dignity." 

http://debri-dv.com/article/5993

Bears (especially large individuals) are powerful, well equipped and robust animals that can sometimes successfully repel the attack of a tiger.

Its for this reason, as the reporter mentions, that Amur tigers are at the top of the food-chain. Franz Hafner, who visited the Bikin Valley in Sikhote-Alin (2021) to film wild Amur tigers, also acknowledged the fact that in this region of the Far East of Russia, bears are displaced from the top position in the food-chain because the tigers hunt and kill the bears in this region. Hafner mentions that in other regions (devoid of tigers) of Russia, bears are apex predators, but not in the Far East, because bears are hunted and eaten by tigers.

Narrator mentions:  

"In Russia, some bears have taken to living in tree nests like frightened birds, and its all because of the biggest cat on earth."

Wildlife biologist & large carnivore specialist, Aletris Neils states:

"You think of bears as top of the food-chain, but not where there's tigers. Tigers have been documented killing both black bears and brown bears where they co-exist with them."

Watch the full documentary here; There's also some interesting facts about the tigers legendary strength & power, and its ability to single-handedly kill 1 ton gaurs and wild buffaloes:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u1n3u

Tiger predation is the main natural cause of brown bear mortality:

Monitoring, Survey, Utilization And Threats To The Populations Of Asiatic Black Bear And Brown Bear In Sikhote-Alin

Pikunov D.G., Seryodkin I.V. 

"The annual increase in the population of brown bears is approximately 38%, and natural mortality is 25-30% (Yudin, 1993). The main natural cause of their death is the predation by the tiger."

Access full text (study) here:

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

In other regions of the Far East of Russia like Kamchatka Peninsula and some western & central regions of Siberia, the brown bears can live peacefully because they lack natural predators. But in the south of the Far East, the Ussuri brown bear has a natural predator and lives in a much more dangerous area and region, because their faced with a massive apex predator like the tiger, that actively hunts bears in this region.

Tiger predation on brown bears is probably the reason why Ussuri brown bears are more aggressive than their Kamchatka & Siberian cousins who lack natural predators. The more dangerous the neighborhood, the more aggressive and dominant you need to be in order to survive. This probably explains why the Ussuri (Himalayan black bear) black bear, which are also regularly preyed on by tigers, are far more aggressive and fierce than the more docile American black bears:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/T...frontcover
 
Large bears (Kaplanov, Heptner, Sludskii) have a thick fat-layer (and muscle) at the nape of their necks, which prevents the tiger from making a quick kill in most cases. The same thing applies to large wild boars. In most cases, when tigers predate on large bears and large male wild boars, the tiger ends up in a intense struggle, having to fight, grapple and subdue the large bear or boar when making the kill. The fact that throughout history, cases of large bears and large wild boars killing or severely injuring tigers being very rare, speaks volumes of the tigers prowess and capabilities at hunting, fighting and killing large, robust, well armed and dangerous animals of similar-size or larger.

Biologist & zoologist, A. Sludsky in his book: "Lord of the Jungle" states:

"Among animals, an adult tiger has no enemies. Only very rare cases are known when he died from wounds inflicted on him by a wild boar, buffalo or brown bear, who were defending against his attack."

http://animalkingdom.su/books/item/f00/s...t031.shtml

What this shows, is that the tigers physical anatomy and attributes are specifically designed for this purpose. The sheer power of the jaw, having the largest canines of all the worlds terrestrial carnivores, the massive skull and huge, robust and muscular forelimbs combined with supreme speed, strength, explosive power, size and agility, renders the tiger to be a dominant and formidable apex predator that is created to routinely hunt and kill large, dangerous prey animals and large carnivores.

Many people overlook this fact, they simply can't fathom why a tiger would view a large bear as food. Hunting a large powerful carnivore is always a dangerous game, but the tiger is physically built to do this (size, speed, strength, power, agility) has all the deadly weapons in its arsenal and is a master at killing.

In the Ukrainian Newspaper 'Svoboda' ("Freedom") an article was published about the Amur tiger, in which a Russian researcher talks about the tigers great ferocity and courage, and how the tiger even attacks and kills big brown bears, and after a fierce struggle, overcomes the bear:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/%...frontcover


Tiger hunting a large brown bear

It is well known (observed by biologists, game rangers & hunters) that tigers follow the tracks of bears when hunting them. Biologist Kaplanov has also observed this.

Biologist E.N. Smirnov observed the tracks of a tiger that was persistently hunting down a large brown bear:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SoAM...&q&f=false

Biologist Kaplanov states that tigers hunt bears more frequently than some people assume, and mentions a case of a tiger hunting a bear by following its tracks:

The tiger hunts bears more frequently than one might suppose. On November 9, 1940, the reserve guard, V. Spiridonov, observed that a tiger, having coming upon the track of a bear while going downstream along the Kema River (up to its tributary the Chima River), followed after the bear."

https://aboutzoos.info/images/stories/fi...e_Alin.pdf


A tiger was observed hunting down a male brown bear for a distance of more than 500 meters before killing him:

"In the winter of 1982, the main forester of the reserve Kirst and A.D Saiko observed the pursuit by a tiger of a male brown bear for more than 500 meters. Attacking a bear running away along the valley of the key from the terrace of the narrow end of the water business, and without killing him, the tiger slipped to intercept the bear hundreds of meters from where it made a new attack from an ambush, trying to cling to his neck, the tiger managed to get a male bear as a result."

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.researchgate.net/publication...is_altaica


A tiger was even observed following the tracks (hunting) of a huge brown bear. The tiger hunted down the massive bear, attacked and badly mauled it: I don't know if the bear was killed or not, as I couldn't find the rest of the account.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

There's plenty of authentic information and observations from various biologists and hunters that confirms that tigers prey on large brown bears. Once a tiger (especially male tigers) is experienced at hunting bears, they will start regularly hunting large adult bears as well. Tkachenko's observations also confirm this.

There's no doubt that 'large' and 'very large' brown bears have been hunted and killed by tigers.

Amur tigers and bears in indigenous peoples culture coming up next .... In this post, information will be presented about the rank and status of tigers and brown bears in the native peoples views and culture.  Reply