Big cat and Bear tale

[Shadow]

(04-18-2019, 08:05 PM)Spalea Wrote:

(04-18-2019, 07:36 PM)Shadow Wrote:

(04-18-2019, 06:16 PM)Spalea Wrote: @Pckts :

About #296: OK, I was too inflluenced by the fight between the tiger called Matkasur (#277) and this sloth bear. Usually the tiger wins, almost without any doubt, and if an ursid survives it is a very lucky one.

Isn´t that Matkasur case that female sloth bear? Males can be about 130-150 kg and really big ones closer to 200 kg. And in this case that which was seen was said to be a huge male sloth bear. So it is quite different thing if male tiger confronts a female bear maybe 1/3-1/2 of size of a male tiger or if it confronts a male bear approximately same size as itself. Tiger is of course favorite in all cases against sloth bear, but that naturally doesn´t mean, that it couldn´t get killed against odds, both of these animals are dangerous, not only tiger :)

I don't follow as well as you such particular tigers like Matkasur, and perhaps cannot exactly determine who is who among male tigers. And I don't speak about sloth bears... As @Pckts tells bears are very tough opponents, especially males. The fact I noticed before, the sloth bear able to sleep on the ground in a place also inhabited by the tiger shows, IMO, an animal enough confident toward its strength.
As @Wolverine said the previous year , 03-11-2018 ( https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-sloth-b...s#pid52239  ), the sloth bear couldn't inhabit and sleep this way with Gir lions, because the lions living and patrolling in group would have more easily the upper hand against a lone sloth bear. If  the sloth bear is able to coexist with tigers and this without disapearing from the place, that shows enough well the sloth bears's value as potential fighter.
This doesn't exclude the possibility of a fight if the tiger is clearly decided to kill an ursid. As everywhere else...

Heh, I don´t follow individual tigers at all :) But I think, that only real fight which is recorded between a tiger and sloth bear is that case, where mother bear was fighting that tiger and when I checked that posting you mentioned, it was the same. So that footage isn´t the best example what it can be, when there is more equal opponent for a tiger what comes to size, weight and strength. That is why I am not so surprised about this kind of incident in a way, that I would see there something extraordinary. I don´t go to guess percentages, but these animals have been coexisting in India for ages. There have to be many many sloth bears eaten by tigers, but I am also 100% sure, that every now and then some tigers have made their last mistake when choosing to attack a sloth bear. Even though sloth bears look like quite funny time to time Reply