Felids Interactions - Interspecific Conflicts

[peter]

(03-01-2018, 09:32 PM)Pckts Wrote: Very Beautiful 
And Rear Sighting
Matkasur &Sloth Bear fight
28 Feb 2018
Tadoba
Video By:-Anesh An Tadoba

My take...
This is a predation attempt by Matkasur, he easily dominates the bear and obtains a crucial bite but the Bear is tenacious and fights off every attempt with great dexterity, much like a cat, the bear is able to bring it's hind claws up to the Tigers face and rake which as we have seen is a very effective defense. Matkasur makes sure to get in bites around the neck/skull which I think will pay dividends in the long run, you can see as Matkasur tires, he begins to retreat but continues to stalk the bear, the bear tries to push Matkasur away but it seems as though Matkasur is going to follow this bear and assess the damage once the Bears adrenaline wears off. If I were to wager, I'd guess Matkasur would attempt another attack at night once he regains his strength and the bears injuries begin to wear heavy.

Good find and thanks for posting, PC.

As to the video. The tiger is lying over the bear, which is on its back and resisting. This means the bear has the opportunity to use his hind legs. A big risk, that is. Largely as a result of a significant size and weight advantage, the tiger restrained the bear for some time. The grip, however, had little effect. This means the tiger didn't get to a vital spot. Maybe he invested a lot of energy in mauling the skin of the bear. I also noticed the tiger didn't use his large fore-arms to get to a significant advantage, but to keep the bear down. Another advantage lost. When the struggling bear managed to use the claws of the hind legs, the tiger was severely scratched and forced to let go. Painful, but not unlucky as the bear could also have ripped his belly.

After the struggle, the bear, now on its hindlegs, tried to bluff the tiger. Again the neck was exposed. The tiger, more than once, repeated his initial mistake. Every time he tried, the bear got out more quickly than before. When out of options and wasted, the bear advanced once more. This time, the tiger decided to retreat. This although the bear, as a result of a lack of size and weapons, wasn't able to hurt, let alone kill, the tiger. All in all, I get to a poor performance at best.

As tigers are reluctant to abandon an attack, my guess is it was initiated by the tiger. He might give it another try, but my guess is the outcome could be similar if not worse. 

Amur tigers attack bears in another way. This is what Bart Schleyer saw in Russia (go to the paragraph in red):

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply