Tiger Predation

[peter]

(02-01-2024, 09:11 AM)ganidat Wrote:

Here's the video of a tigress killing a gaur with her cubs.
Those cubs are the size of dogs, not even 60kg.

And they appear to only be messing around after the mother did the heavy work in crippling the gaur.

I think the true difference that allows a tigress to take down a bull gaur alone, whereas not even a male lion can take down a cape buffalo alone, is agility. The fact that the tiger is bigger and stronger than a lion makes no difference to a gaur, which is 6 times the size of a tiger. The strength difference between a tiger and lion is marginal compared to the strength of a bull gaur. 

However, agility, and perhaps even stamina (which cannot be seen or proven), is the big difference. Why? When it comes to a large gaur, the neck or throat bite is infeasible. The only way is to maneuver around the gaur, hang on to it long enough to cripple it. This requires agility and stamina. We know that tigers are far more agile than lions. They also have the ability to stand, balance, and fight on their hindlegs, which the lion cannot. Getting in position, at the rear of the gaur, is one thing. Having to maintain the position is another thing with the constant resistant of the gaur.

It is the tiger's ability to stand, balance, and move on their hindlegs that allows them to stay on the gaur long enough to cripple it. With lions, any strong jerky movement of a bull cape buffalo would be able to knock the lion out of position, even if it manages to get in position in the first place.

GANIDAT

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