ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

ABOUT THE POSTS OF 'APEX TITAN' AND THE CRITICISM OF POSTERS INTERESTED IN BEARS

a - Introduction

About half a year ago, 'Apex Titan' joined Wildfact. His posts in 'Carnivora' and, later, this forum (referring to his contributions in the thread 'Amur tigers') caught the attention of those interested in interactions between tigers and bears in the Russian Far East. After a few posts in the thread 'Amur Tigers', I invited him to continue in this thread. The condition was good information. He accepted the invitation and kept his promise. 

Unfortunately, opinions about 'good information' differ quite a bit. A former member (and mod) of Wildfact (now administrator of 'Domain of the Bears') decided to back a complaint. After addressing the criticism (see my last post in this thread), my proposal was to move on. 

Our member 'Apex Titan', however, wanted to respond to the accusations himself. I agreed he should have the opportunity to do so, provided he would stay away from remarks that could result in animosity. 

Although he succeeded, it wasn't quite what I had in mind. In spite of that, I decided against editing his post. In the end, it seemed better to respond in this way. 

b - The quest of 'Apex Titan' 

For most of us, the Russian Far East is a remote, largely empty and unknown region. It's wild country, that still has large, pristine forests and animals like tigers, Ussuri brown bears, Himalayan black bears and wolves. In spite of the great efforts of quite a few Russian naturalists, hunters and biologists, not much is known about the way these animals interact.  

In 1992, the Siberian Tiger Project started. In spite of the very informative publications, the veil covering tigers and bears still is all but untouched. This is the main reason those interested in tigers and bears still disagree about the answers to questions often asked. 

Our member 'Apex Titan' is one of those interested in the way tigers and bears interact. In contrast to most others, he invested time. When he thought he had enough to get to a few conclusions, he decided to inform us about the results of his quest.  

The information he found strongly suggests tigers top the food chain in the Russian Far East. In some regions and seasons, bears constitute a significant part of the diet of tigers. Those who know, concluded experienced bear 'specialists', like Baikov said a century ago, hunt bears of 'almost up to their own size'. In an email posted in one of the threads of the former AVA forum, Linda Kerley said tigers hunt brown bears up to the size of the 'healthiest and largest' females. In some regions, the pressure on female brown bears with cubs is so heavy they leave districts populated by bear 'specialists'.

Although 'Apex Titan' found quite a bit of information about the way male Amur tigers and male Ussuri brown bears interact, he, as promised when he accepted the invitation to post about tigers and bears in this thread, stayed away from opinions. Everything he posted is based on reliable information collected in the last century. It isn't the result of selection at the gate, that is. It also isn't a result of preference. 

In my opinion, his efforts deserve a bit of respect. Most unfortunately, his quest resulted in quite the opposite. The 'anonymous' user complaining about the alleged preference of 'Apex Titan' isn't the only one who dismissed him. One of the mods of 'Domain of the Bears' also concluded Apex still was no different from the one banned for posting misinformation some years ago. That's still without qualifications of an insultive nature of other members of that forum. A pity.

c - About male Amur tigers and male Ussuri brown bears

Information collected by biologists in the last three decades more or less confirms what was known before the Siberian Tiger Project started: Some Amur tigers, and males in particular, learned to hunt Himalayan black bears and Ussuri brown bears up to the size of an adult female, but even bear 'specialists' seem to avoid adult male brown bears. Male brown bears at times follow and rob tigresses with cubs, but they avoid male tigers. 

Adult male brown bears and adult male Amur tigers compare for (head and body) length, but male bears are more robust and heavier. The difference, however, is limited. Even Krechmar stated there's little to choose between an adult male tiger and an adult male brown bear. He favoured the bear in a struggle, but recent photographs suggest male tigers could be a bit more robust that we thought. 

In the departments that matter, most male tigers and brown bears almost compare. Male bears have slightly larger and heavier skulls, but male tigers also have a relatively large skull. Apart from that, they have a very wide rostrum to accomodate the longest and heaviest upper canines of all big cats. Same for necks and forelimbs. Bears top the list, but male tigers are not a mile away.      

The conclusion is adult male brown bears are bigger at the level of averages, but the difference is limited. Large bears are faster and more agile than many think, but it's likely the cat has the edge in these departments. If we add he has the forelimbs to pin a large opponent long enough to use his teeth, one could conclude the outcome of a serious conflict would be close to unpredictable. Very large male bears (exceeding, say, 800 pounds) have a serious advantage, but individuals well exceeding an average male tiger are few and far between. Furthermore, individual variation in male tigers seems to be more pronounced than a few decades ago. Some males no doubt surpass the weight of an average male brown bear in early spring. 

As to the remarks about individual variation and robustness in male Amur tigers today. Here's a few pictures illustrating the points made. All photographs were first posted by 'Apex Titan' in the Amur tiger thread. Watch the (relative) size of the skull and the neck:  

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

There's a video of male tiger known as 'Elvis' in that thread as well. To say he's a robust tiger would be quite an understatement. Today, most captive Amur tigers are long and tall. In the sixties and seventies of the last century, however, they were very robust. Most of them were direct descendents of wild Amur tigers.  

d - To conclude

Tigers and bears have lived in close proximity for thousands of years in the Russian Far East. In spite of the information collected by Russian naturalists, hunters and biologists in the recent past and those involved in the Siberian Tiger Project in the period 1992-2021, the veil covering both species is all but untouched. In order to get to a few answers to questions discussed for years, we need to sideline preference, strong convictions, dismissals and insults. The only way to get to reliable conclusions is to focus on information collected by those who know.  

And this, I think, is what 'Apex Titan' was saying in his last post. 

Time to move on. Reply