There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
--- Peter Broekhuijsen ---

Poll: Who is the largest tiger?
Amur tiger
Bengal tiger
They are equal
[Show Results]
 
 
  • 3 Vote(s) - 3.33 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Who is the "king" of tigers? - Bengal or Amur

Guatemala GuateGojira Offline
Expert & Researcher
*****
#10
( This post was last modified: 04-21-2014, 11:29 PM by GuateGojira )

(04-18-2014, 11:29 PM)'Pckts' Wrote: In regards to your bold "food intake" statement.
The reason that was dismissed was because of multiple reasons.
Bolds argument -" lions and tigers are really the same size, just tigers have more food intake"
Food intake has nothing to do with ...
Body lenght, fore limb girth, bone size, densisty and structure etc.... So to try and state that these cats are the "same" is obviously wrong.
Next in regards to food availability, lets look at it.
A male lion has access to the largest prey around, and the largest lion sub species are still smaller than the largest tiger sub species. Not only are lions able to eat larger prey items due to the pride, but a male lion dominates a kill. He is free to eat is share until complettely satisfied and takes his right seriously and will not let others eat until he is full. 2ndly a lion pride can protect a large kill for a long time, a tiger will have to defend his kill alone from bears, dholes and other tigers, they would probably have to give up their food more often.
Now about the pride, most male lions won't even contribute much to a hunt (no burning of calories) and yet they will still stuff themselves until they are full, so if you take into account the fact that a tiger has a higher DEI, it hunts alone and must excersize more often and yet it still maintains more massive size, then it obviously has nothing to do with "food intake", "food intake" is as much a part of it as it would be if you were to compare how much you eat to shaq. Yes shaq eats more than you, yes he is larger than you because he eats more, but that is one factor that goes into many others. Shaq is eats more because he needs more to sustain his larger muscles and body. Now take into account a higher metabolism and then that person/animal will have to eat even more.

 
EXCELENT post Pckts, the statements of Bold Champ are less than theory, they are just an hypothesis at best, and a BAD one, by the way.

Apart from the great points showed here by Pckts, we most take in count that the food intake of lions and tigers is THE SAME.

There are only two studies of tiger food intake, one from Kanha (Schaller) and one from Chitwan (Sunquist). Schaller (1967) found that the food intake of a tiger in 24 hours is between c.18-27 kg, however, his sample was very small (only 7 cases) and only one male was reported. For Chitwan, Sunquist (1981) recorded a larger sample (38 cases) using both male and female and in this time, he included wild prey too; his results were that the food intake in 24 hours is between c.14-19 kg. It seems that Nepalese tigers eat less than those from Central India, however, we most take in count that in the time of Schaller study, Kanha was in process of recovery and the prey base was more or less good; on the other hand Nepalese tigers were in optimum habitat with great prey density, so with an increase in prey availability, tigers manage to hunt relatively less and eat more loosely, so that is why they eat less than those of Kanha. Schaller (1967) mentioned several cases of tigers with completely empty bellies after several days without a hunt.

For lions food intake, Sunquist & Sunquist (2002) states that Etosha lionesses (the largest on record) had an average food intake of up to 14 kg in good season (prey availability is more variable in lions than in tigers), which is about the same that the average for Nepalese tigers (both sexes included) and suggest that male lions had an even higher food intake. Even then, although Etosha lioness have about the same average weight than tigresses from Nepal (c.140 kg in both cases), male lions are much lighter than the Nepalese tigers (190 kg against 235 kg respectively, none of them adjusted for stomach content). Besides, Schaller (1972) stated that a male lion specimen ate up to 33 kg in a night and he already have some stomach content from a previous meal, which means that he actually ate more than that figure! On the tiger side, one male ate up to 35 kg in a 24 hour period, but the maximum food intake recorded by Sunquist (1981) in three years, in a 24 hour period, was of 18.6 kg.

Evidence show that both tigers and lions have the same food intake in a 24 hour period, but lions eat more in that time as they hunt more frequently than tigers. Interestingly, while Schaller (1967) hypothesize that a large male can eat up to 45 kg or one fifth (1/5) of its weight, he also stated that a male lion can eat up to 40 kg or one forth (1/4) of its weight in one meal (Schaller, 1972). This suggest that lions can eat more than a tiger in a single meal.
 

 
2 users Like GuateGojira's post
Reply




Messages In This Thread
RE: Who is the "King" of the tigers? - GuateGojira - 04-21-2014, 01:33 PM



Users browsing this thread:
2 Guest(s)

About Us
Go Social     Subscribe  

Welcome to WILDFACT forum, a website that focuses on sharing the joy that wildlife has on offer. We welcome all wildlife lovers to join us in sharing that joy. As a member you can share your research, knowledge and experience on animals with the community.
wildfact.com is intended to serve as an online resource for wildlife lovers of all skill levels from beginners to professionals and from all fields that belong to wildlife anyhow. Our focus area is wild animals from all over world. Content generated here will help showcase the work of wildlife experts and lovers to the world. We believe by the help of your informative article and content we will succeed to educate the world, how these beautiful animals are important to survival of all man kind.
Many thanks for visiting wildfact.com. We hope you will keep visiting wildfact regularly and will refer other members who have passion for wildlife.

Forum software by © MyBB