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

[peter]

APEX

Interesting, balanced and well-written post. Agreed with all points made. 

It is a fact details about bears killed by tigers are often lacking. One could, as some prefer, conclude there's no solid proof adult male brown bears have been killed by Amur tigers and, for this reason, maintain they are out of the predatory reach of even large male Amur tigers, but there's way too much quite reliable information pointing in a different direction. 

I'm not only referring to the, admittedly inconclusive, information in, for example, 'Die Säugetiere der Sowjetunion' (V.G. Heptner and A.A. Sludskij, 1980) and 'Der Tiger' (V. Mazak, 1983), but to quite a few recent publications, books and articles. That's still without the interviews you mentioned. I'm referring to interviews with specialists (most of them biologists) loaded with knowledge and experience. 

The incidents in Mazak's book, by the way, are not based on unverified stories and hearsay, but on unpublished notes of an unknown Russian biologist (K.G. Abramov) and a letter (dated May 8, 1970) of an experienced Russian hunter (V. Jankowski). He saw both the tiger and the remains of the big male bear he killed a few days before he was shot.  

Tiger 'Ochkarik' 

Members of forums interested in tigers and bears in the Russian Far East often refer to the size of adult male Amur tigers and adult male Ussuri brown bears. Most of them, for reasons discussed in my previous post, think it would take quite a tiger to kill an adult male brown bear, but reliable information (referring to recent newspaper reports, articles, scientific publication and books) suggests this is not the case. 

Let's take the tiger A. Batalov knows quite well as an example. Tiger 'Ochkarik' was never weighed, but Batalov has weighed quite a few bears. If he says 'Ochkarik' ranges between 160-180 kg, we have to assume he's quite close. In at least two interviews, Batalov said this male tiger killed and completely ate the very large bear that tormented tigress 'Rochelle' for quite some time. This bear, called 'Chlamyda' on account of his size, was estimated at 350-400 kg, if not more. 

Although Batalov, as far as I know, didn't respond to the questions of our member 'Nyers', we can't be sure 'Ochkarik' really killed 'Chlamyda'. It is, however, clear the bear he killed was a large one. So large, Batalov hardly recognized 'Ochkarik' after he had eaten the bear. Does this prove an adult male Amur tiger is able to kill a larger (heavier) male brown bear? No. The reason? No hard evidence and no details.   

Tiger 'Borya' 

There's another male tiger that made headlines. I'm referring to male tiger 'Borya' ('Boris'). When he was about 18 months of age, it was President Vladimir Putin himself who released him into the taiga in May 2014. In the reserve located in the Jewish Autonomous Region, 'Borya' didn't need a lot of time to adapt. The youngster killed at least two bears in his first year. Biologist were unable to get to an accurate determination, but they thought both bears, like 'Borya', were youngsters (2-3 years of age). 

The difference between 'Ochkarik' and 'Borya' is the last one was wearing a collar transmitting signals for about two years. This enabled biologists to track him and find some of the animals he killed. What they found, proved immature male Amur tigers, in contrast to what was assumed for a long time, hunt young bears.  

It also proved young tigers can quickly develop in this department. In an article published June 10, 2015, it's stated 'Borya' had killed at least one adult brown bear. Our member 'Apex Titan' posted the article in another forum some time ago. 

Here's a scan of the article published by VladNews and written by Nikolay Kutenkikh. It's interesting from start to finish:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

   

About 18 months later, another article about 'Borya' was published. It, without a shadow of doubt, proves 'Borya' still hunted adult bears (watch the -s-). It also proves adult Amur tigers occasionally hunt together. I scanned the first and third page of the article:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Conclusion 

Although there's no reliable evidence of adult male brown bears killed by male tigers in the period 1992-2021, there's a lot of reliable information pointing in another direction. I'm not only referring to books published before the Siberian Tiger Project started, but also to recent information and interviews with those considered to be in the know. Although they in particular favour the male tiger for reasons discussed in my previous post, it's not a one-way street. Adult male tigers have been killed by male brown bears in the recent past. 

What is known (referring to books written by Russian biologists published before the Siberian Tiger Project started), suggests individuals affected by disease, injuries, starvation, age and a lack of experience were the most common victims. Reply