Amur Tigers

[GreenGrolar]

(03-28-2022, 06:40 PM)Apex Titan Wrote: @GreenGrolar 

Show this to the administrator of the Bear forum, who blindly claims and speculates ( based on nothing ) that tigers mostly hunt juvenile brown bears, and not adults, despite the fact that hard evidence from reputable experts has been posted which clearly proves him wrong.

As for the mortality of young brown bears killed by tigers, biologists found only ONE young bear killed by a tiger, the rest of the brown bears killed were adults:  (Siberian Tiger Project)

*This image is copyright of its original author

Note, how STP biologists found mostly adult brown bears and black bears killed and eaten by tigers, and only very few young bears. This also confirms Tkachenko's observations in the Khekhtsir reserve, in which he reported and observed that male tigers more often hunted large, adult brown bears and black bears.

Also, notice how the female brown bear was unable to defend her cub from the tiger, and fled up a tree with the other cub to escape.

Wildlife biologist & senior scientist, Joel Berger mentions a case of a brown bear being tree'd by a tiger, and another adult brown bear killed by a tiger. He also mentions that bears are unable to defend their offspring against tigers:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://archive.org/details/bettertoeatyouwi0000berg

This is telling because female brown bears defending their cubs are known to be the most dangerous and highly aggressive bears, and yet they often fail to defend their cubs against tiger predation, and often get killed in the process or forced to flee.

In addition to Tkachenko's observations (and statement) of male tigers primarily hunting adult brown and black bears. His studies show that when tigers hunt Himalayan black bears, they regularly prey on adult bears of all ages and sexes, although I've seen more cases of tigers killing adult males, than female black bears.

Specific Features of Feeding of the Amur Tiger Panthera tigris altaica (Carnivora, Felidae) in a Densely Populated Locality (with Reference to Bol’shekhekhtsirskii Reserve and Its Environs). K.N. Tkachenko, 2012

Tiger predation on bears: ( Adult Himalayan black bears routinely hunted and killed by tigers )

"Himalayan black bears (individuals of any age and sex) were more frequently attacked by tigers (Tkachenko, 2008). Two Himalayan bears—tiger’s prey—found in the reserve appeared to be adult (one of them male, the other, presumably, female). Claws of adult bears were also found repeatedly in the excreta of tigers. According to observations in Bol’shekhekhtsirskii Reserve, the tiger successfully hunted the Himalayan black bear at any time of the year."

"The suggestion that the tigers attack bears only when there is an insufficient amount of its usual food—boar and Manchurian wapiti—(Rukovsky, 1968) is not quite correct since attacks take place also at their high numbers.  Male tiger A specialized on hunting Himalayan black bear. The remains of two bears of this species found by us are its prey. In excreta (n = 56) of this individual collected from 1992 to 2000, bear remains comprised 31.6%, in particular, that of the Himalayan black bear, 22.8%; that of BROWN BEAR, 7%; and that of bear not determined up to species, 1.7%."

"From November to March, the occurrence of the Himalayan black bear in the feeding of tiger was 22.7% and from April to October, slightly lower, 16.7%. Brown bear, on the contrary, in the cold time of the year was recorded much more rarely (2.7%) than in the warm time ( 16.7% )."

"In Lazovsky Reserve in the feeding of the tiger, only Himalayan black bear was recorded (Zhivotchenko, 1981; Khramtsov, 1993). According to other studies performed in middle Sikhote-Alin, it attacks this species more seldom than the brown bear (Bromlei, 1965; Kostoglod, 1977; Seryodkin et al., 2005). Apparently, such a contradiction is explained by the difference of individual ecological conditions in areas where studies were performed. However, the fact that the Himalayan black bear of any sex and age is a typical prey of the tiger is obvious (Sysoev, 1960, 1966; Gorokhov, 1973; Kostoglod, 1977, 1981; Khramtsov,1993; Seryodkin et al., 2005; Yudin and Yudina, 2009; author’s unpublished data)."

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sp...be361da82a

So depending on region and areas, sometimes tigers prey on brown bears more often than Himalayan black bears and vice versa. And adult bears of both species are mostly hunted by tigers, particularly in summer and autumn.

Done. Anyway, here is another interesting account:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...dents.html

Although it seems to be a rare incident, the two animals could have potentially crossed paths with each other or at least thread on the same land since both animals wandered far away from their natural habitat at a different time period. Interested in the comments of others. Reply