Big cat and Bear tale

[Diamir2]

(03-11-2020, 11:06 PM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(03-10-2020, 11:37 PM)Rage2277 Wrote: sloth bears chase tigers in any reserve it's nothing unique in ranthambore idk about sloth bears dominating tigers there because that would involve them bulling tigers of their kills which i've yet to see and tigers have killed and eaten sloth bears in ranthambore here this is the usual outcome when they chase a tiger 

Been honest I don't know of any report of sloth bears chasing tigers in other areas, probably they are, but I had not see them. Now about the relation about sloth bears and tigers in Ranthambore, here is what the late Fateh Singh Rathore has to say:

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Yes, it is in the book of Valmik Thapar "Tiger Ultimate Guide" (page 142) of 2004, but it was Mr Fateh who said that. Sorry for the confusion.


Now, this is what Valmik Thapar said in his book "Tiger Portrait of a Predator" in 1986:

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Interestingly, Stephen Mills in his book "Tigers" of 2004 provide a report of a Chitwan tiger that had a particular taste for sloth bears:

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Richard Perry in the book "The World of the Tiger" of 1965 provide a few remarks, all in favor of the tiger:

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Sankhala in his book "Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger" of 1977, also provided a few remarks:

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So, it is pretty clear that tigers and sloth bears will try to aviod each other, but if the tiger has the change it will hunt and eat the bear, which means that tiger normally dominate over the sloth bear, but the bear been also very agressive can return the attack and like some videos show, the tiger will retreat, even adults. The case of Ranthambore is interesting, maybe the conclution of Mr Fateh is allready old for these days, but his observations are remarkable at 2004.

"I have found evidences of active avoidance of tigers by sloth bears and relatively frequent vigilance behaviour in bears (personal  observations) in Panna NP."

Sloth bears actively avoided tigers and humans when they became aware of their presence in advance. When they heard suspicious sounds made by humans, tigers, or even alarms raised by other animals such as sambar (Cervus unicolor) or common langur (Trachypithecus entellus) to the presence of predators or humans, the bears became vigilant.They paused their activity and waited for further sounds or scents, looked in the direction of the sound, or exhibited such vigilant behaviour.
When the bears sensed the presence of adversaries, they stopped their activity, moved in a different direction or even took shelter under secure cover. Sometimes,they did not emerge out of dens until long after their usual times of start of activity.
Occasionally they also fled on sensing a threat, or at other times,they rushed towards the tiger or the human. Similar reactions were also observed in Chitwan NP, Nepal. At close quarters, sloth bears reacted to humans and tigers similarly, often by roaring and running away, or roaring and attacking before retreating (Laurie and Seidensticker 1977)"                                                          
K.Yoganand, 2005, “Behavioural Ecology of Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) In Panna National Park, Central India”, thesis PhD, Saurashtra Universit Reply