Big cat and Bear tale

[Apex Titan]

(01-29-2024, 10:51 PM)Pckts Wrote:

(01-29-2024, 08:52 PM)Apex Titan Wrote:

(01-29-2024, 08:07 PM)Pckts Wrote: Sub adults still have large canines, you’re not going to be able to determine a difference of a few cms with the naked eye. Judging by the size of the bear, it’s a small female or a youngster. I’ve seen a Bear that was the size of small Boar and a Male that was massive, probably double the size of this Bear.

This bear is clearly not a small female or youngster. It's been stated that it was a fully-grown adult bear killed (Screen-shot from 'Tigers of India').

Individual size and weight variation, especially in bear subspecies, is very pronounced. A fully-grown adult male brown bear can weigh only 165 kg, whereas another individual of the same subspecies can weigh 300 - 400+kg. So it depends.

Sloth bears are a medium-sized bear species. Whereas Bengal tigers (along with Amur tigers) are the largest subspecies of tiger, significantly larger than even a fully-grown adult male sloth bear. So the average tiger is gonna make the average adult male sloth bear look kinda small anyway. So that doesn't mean that this bear was a "youngster" or "small female" like you're merely guessing.

This adult sloth bear looks "small" to you because it was killed by a significantly larger predator, that's all.

"clearly" 
It's clearly a small bear and stating it to be fully grown doesn't change a thing, like the female who fought off Matkasur would be stated to be fully grown but I can guarantee she is also a small female and probably a young mother at that. 

Brander- "Many Bears continue to grow after being 3 years old, and it is certain they continue to increase in bulk until 8-10 years of age"
 
I've personally seen both big and small bears in wild as well as big and small Tigers in the wild, when you see a big male, it most definitely will not be dwarfed by a big tiger, it will certainly be smaller than the tiger but a big male Bear is much larger than this bear shown. 


A big male will weigh the same as a Tigress but packed in a more stout frame

Here's a decent males measurements "some what above average" from Brander (between the pegs)

5'7'' length including Tail
6'9'' Tall when standing
2'8'' Shoulder Height 
4'3'' Body Girth
1'10'' Forearm
2'11'' Neck Girth 
3'2'' Head Girth
320lbs - 145kgs

No, its clearly a typical average-sized adult sloth bear. Again, sloth bears aren't that big, so an average adult tiger is gonna usually make an average adult sloth bear look small.

I'm not saying or implying that this bear was a "big male" killed, I'm saying its definitely an adult sloth bear though. Based on its size, large canines and Arun Kumar's (Tigers of India) statement, its clearly an adult bear killed.

"Probably a young mother"??  Once again, sloth bears aren't that big, they're a medium-sized bear species and a fully mature adult female sloth bear can easily be the same size of the female bear that fought off Matkasur. So that doesn't mean that the female sloth bear that fought off Matkasur was "probably a young mother". Like I said, individual size & weight variation in bear species is very pronounced.

Even Asiatic black bears reach larger sizes/weights than sloth bears. Reply