Big cat and Bear tale

[Diamir2]

(03-11-2020, 11:36 PM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(03-11-2020, 11:25 PM)Diamir2 Wrote: "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 University

Yes, I know that study and I appreciate that you post it, as you can see in my original post I stated that tigers do prey on bears in Panna, that is why bears in the area are more nervous from tigers.

Dr Chundawat reports a very unusual behaviour of the tigers in Panna, he says that tigers eat the sloth bear dropps! Check this:

*This image is copyright of its original author

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, at other times, they rushed towards the tiger or 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 University Reply