Lion and Tiger Fight Interaction in Zoo, Circus or Any Other Captive Places

[Shadow]

(08-13-2019, 10:04 AM)peter Wrote:

(08-13-2019, 02:49 AM)Shadow Wrote: Same incident and better quality video and from different directions.

First translation from description:


During the performance in the Moscow Circus on Vernadsky Prospekt, an emergency occurred that will make even the most sophisticated audience shudder for a long time.

In the arena between two dangerous predators, a fight broke out. Trying to prove his leadership, the tiger attacked the lion. He, in turn, gave him a rebuff.

At first, the Zapashny brothers - Edgard and Askold - tried to calm the predators by throwing circus curbstones at them. But this did not affect them.


Then Askold decided to resort to extreme measures - he shot into the air. This cooled the bestial fervor of predators.

Spectators watched in horror at the arena, one of which photographed what had happened on video. Later, the video was published in his "Instagram" by Askold himself.

"For the first time I shot from a light/noise weapon, and, thank God, I managed to stop Philip's lion, who wanted to join the" battle, "said the trainer.

ANALYSIS

a - The fight

01 - The Zapashny Brothers walk the male lion to his pedestal.

02 - The moment they turn their back on the lion, the tiger attacks.

03 - During the first attack, the second male lion prepares to join the fight. Discouraged by one of the trainers, he turns round.

04 - Just before the tiger made contact, the lion turns his head and rolled over.

05 - By rolling over, the lion is able to absorb the weight of the attack and to minimize the damage. 

06 - On his back, the lion is able to use the tiger's momentum to turn the tables. 

07 - After getting to equal terms, the lion rises and pushes the tiger to his front, in this way creating momentum.

08 - As the lion is behind him and coming forward, the tiger is forced to move out of harm's way. 

09 - During his retreat, the tiger is able to turn round and face the lion head on.

10 - When they meet again, this time on equal terms, the tiger rises to his hindlegs and uses his forepaws to get a grip on the lion's mane.

11 - The lion again goes down with the tiger on top of him. This time, he isn't able to get out of the hold immediately. 

12 - After the shot is fired, the tiger jumps away.

13 - Close to the cage, after the fight, the lion moves towards the tiger. The tiger turns to meet him and the lion moves away.  

b - Contenders

01 - Although they were close in size, the lion seemed to be a bit bigger. 

02 - According to the description (see the translation), the tiger attacked to prove his superiority. The trainers I interviewed told me male lions fight each other to move up, whereas male tigers fight to get rid of tension or to get access to a tigress. When they fight each other, they, apart from exceptions (fueds), usually quickly settle their affairs. When they fight animals they dislike, however, fights can develop into a dangerous all-out. 

c - Trainers

When the fight erupted, the Zapashny's responded in an adequate way. One of them immediately discouraged the second male lion when the fight started, in this way avoiding a potentially big problem. The other tried to break up the fight. The assistents also responded in an adequate way, as they stepped in very quicky and did what they had to do. When the brawlers were not to be discouraged, one of the Zapashy's made sure the fight was stopped. All in all, it took less than 30 seconds. Well done.

My score - Zapashny Bros: 9 out of 10. Beatty: 1 out of 10.

Why not 10 out of 10?

Mixed acts are potentially dangerous, especially when tigers, lions and bears are forced to cooperate. All trainers know there's no love lost between these species, meaning you got to take precautions. Lions often talk about their intentions, but so do tigers and bears. Not as openly as lions, but they're not as secretive as many think. Those who watch them closely often, although to a degree, are able to predict their actions. My guess is the tiger involved in the brawl told the trainers about his intentions before he attacked. They apparently missed it (1 point deducted). 

I'm not sure about the history of the act, but the animals seemed a bit tense. Could have been a result of a lack of pedestals and could have been a result of a recent change. For circus cats, pedestals are always safe, no matter what. The video suggests only a few pedestals were used (another point gone). 

Although they knew what to do, the cats seemed to be unsure about each other. I could be wrong, but my guess is the lions were recent arrivals. If so, the mixed act was a risk (third point gone). 

I only saw 2 male lions in the video. As male lions, in contrast to tigers, fight together, it meant a tiger involved in a brawl would not face more than 2 male lions. This decision resulted in damage control. Furthermore, it offers trainers more room to break up a brawl quickly. Good thinking (2 extra points).

d - Style of fighting

01 - Lions.

Captive male lions, and those in their prime in particular, tend to be quite sure of themselves. This means they are not prepared for a surprise attack. A tiger of similar size, therefore, can get to an early advantage. When disadvantaged, male lions, like tigers, often roll over quickly to be able to absorb the initial blow. In this way, they are able to use the momentum of their opponent to their advantage and get their footing to get to equal terms quickly. Head on, they often use the freight train strategy, meaning they go forward in order to pin their opponent. Although their stocky build enables infighting, they're not agile. In a brawl with a more athletic opponent of similar weight, they, therefore, often lose initiative. The mane can absorb blows to a degree, but it also offers the opponent an opportunity to get a hold. This hold can enable him to move the lion in a position it wants to avoid at all costs. Without a mane, that would be much more difficult. 

02 - Tigers

Male tigers often are more wary and more cautious than male lions. When confronted, they, more often than not, tend to give way. When determined, however, tigers often are prepared to go head to head. They're different from lions in that they are more agile. When they fight another tiger, they tend to lock on. In a fight with a bear or a lion, however, they seem to avoid just that. When the opponent is a bear, they try to get to his back. One trainer who saw a fight told me the tiger jumped the bear to get to a good position. Lions are different from bears in that they have a mane, enabling a tiger to hook on and position the lion.             

03 - Big predators compared

Based on what I saw and what trainers told me, my guess is there's, strengthwise, little to choose between male lions, tigers and bears of similar age and size (difference in weight limited to 100 pounds). The trainer interviewed by Big Bonns (AVA) said bears easily outwrestle a big cat, but added an attack from behind would result in a dead bear. Pikunov agreed in the department of strength, but thought the bear would outendure a tiger. Krechmar, however, said there are no consistent winners. Tony Hughes, regarding captive big cats and bears, roughly agreed. 

What I heard and saw suggests a tiger would get more opportunities as a result of more speed and agility, but it would be a close call between animals of similar size. One mistake could be, and often is, curtains. This regarding animals born and bred in captivity. 

In wild tigers and lions, however, it could be a bit different. The reason is adult tigers, as Vaillant said, are true survivors. Only the most able and clever get to adulthood. Male lions also have to avoid bad decisions, but their way of life (referring to coalitions) enables both fysical able and clever males to get to adulthood. In male tigers, fysical ability always is important. The reason is they have to hunt. Limited ability in this respect can result in starvation. This is not always true for all male lions, at least not to the same degree. But I never heard of a male lion starving to death in his prime.

In the end, all adult big predators of all species are fascinating, able and unmatched miracles of nature.

This was a good example, how in short time happens a lot. In 13-14 seconds all over and both cats giving and receiving, no clear upper hand or anything even though there was a surprise attack. Both animals in good shape when comparing to each others. 

It is easy to say, how tiger would do this and that and lion this and that. Here was reality, two strong and fast big cats which have more incommon, than separating when looking at physique and capabilities. Differences are minor. Many say, that tigers fight on back. Well, as here can be seen, so do lions and obviously are good in it too. I didn´t see in this any moment where another one would have been in major trouble. Maybe after some time other one would have been, if fight would have continued a few minutes, maybe not. Also after trainers could separate animals by shooting that gun, neither animal wasn´t looking scared etc., that shot just broke the moment, what comes fighting and made animals again to remember, that they should follow what trainers command. For me it looked like that lion was going to continue a split second after that shot, but then calming down, maybe trainers voice finally reached it after that gunshot. Tiger didn´t look scary either.

One interesting thing though was, that often in other situations it looks like male lions aren´t taking situation so seriously in the beginning and getting some swipes. In this situation lion obviously understood immediately, that time to fight, not wait and see. Sometimes it might look like lions are "diesel engines", gets some time to get engine running smoothly, this showed that when needed a split second is enough.

Anyway, as it could be seen, it´s quite intense and fast. Far from easy to take upper hand if not able to surprise other one totally. Also it was interesting to see how lion practically threw tiger away from first wrestle causing tiger to land on it´s side, good reminder for it, how strong these animals are, tiger would naturally be able to do the same if positions vice versa.

Well, hopefully this opens up some eyes and teaches certain respect for both of these "brothers", stripes or mane, when needed they both are able to give and receive a lot. This fight was a good example for it, that why fanboys have argued about "superiority" for centuries maybe. It´s just impossible to know what happens and how it ends when lion and tiger meet like this. Small things and sometimes pure luck can be game changer, physically there simply isn´t anything, which would give clear upper hand for another. That´s my opinion, naturally everyone are free to have their own :) If asked from 10 people about this fight, I guess that we get 10 more or less different analysis etc.... Reply