Tiger Predation

[Apex Titan]

@Pckts 

Quote:Ustaad, Matkasur, Tadoba Male on night drive, T57 from Ranth, Khali and the list goes on. All videos and accounts are mentioned on the Bear/Tiger interaction thread along with many adult Tigress being run off as well.

Ustaad (T-24) got run off by a sloth bear when he was a young male aged 3-4 years old. Not a territorial adult male tiger, there's a big difference. I already know about the Matkasur case, but he initially fought the sloth bear. So there are not "numerous" videos of sloth bears chasing away territorial adult male tigers like you claimed, there's only very few.

Most of the videos clearly show sloth bears chasing away young juvenile tigers. Sometimes the young tigers look like their playing with the bear out of curiosity. There are also videos of adult sloth bears getting chased off by juvenile tigers and retreating back into the forest at the sight of a young tiger or tigress.

Quote:There is nothing “flawed” about it. We have far too many eye witness accounts. And the idea of Amir’s regularly preying on Bears is far more flawed. You have very few individuals mentioned who have allegedly done so with not a single one actually seen first hand. Who knows how the interaction actually went?

What?  Are you serious?  This is a very ignorant statement to make. Your just gonna ignore all the boat-loads of accounts, evidence and data I posted on this forum, which clearly proves that Amur tigers regularly prey on bears?  Its a scientifically established fact, determined by scientific field studies and modern research, that Amur tigers regularly hunt and kill bears. Bear-hunting has been recently observed and reported in several young tigers and tigresses as well.

So no, there's not only "very few individuals" who have "allegedly" done so, where did you hear this from? And what do you mean by "allegedly" ?  Are you trying to imply that biologists and researchers are making claims without any solid evidence? Are you saying these scientific peer-reviewed studies may be wrong?  Are you saying that biologists and zoologists mostly base their conclusions off of guesswork??

Amur tigers (many individuals) frequently kill and eat adult bears, and whats impressive is, they primarily hunt bears in the summer and fall, when bears are at their peak weights, condition and full strength. And in most cases, there's no drawn out fight as your merely speculating about. The tiger swiftly dispatches even an adult bear. And this fact clearly proves that your argument is badly flawed.

Quote:And it doesn’t matter what region or sub species you’re talking about, none of their diets consist mainly of bears, or even close to that. For one, Bears are apex so their numbers are much less than ungulates and two, they’re far more dangerous so they’ll be avoided more often than not. 

Your argument makes no sense. Again, in summer and autumn, in some regions and areas, bears are one of the most important prey items of the tigers diet. Making up a large significant portion, even more important than wild boar and red deer. Bears hibernate for at least 6 months in the taiga, making them inaccessible for tigers to hunt. But in summer and fall, bears are often taken by tigers.

And there are some tigers, who habitually hunt bears and prefer hunting and eating bears instead of ungulate prey animals. I've posted this information several times now.

How can bears be "apex" when they are regularly killed and eaten by tigers? Again, another flawed argument. Ussuri brown bears, Himalayan black bears and sloth bears are not considered to be "apex predators" in the same forests as tigers, because its well known that the tiger is the main natural enemy and predator of the bears. The bear becomes prey for the tiger.

Just very recently (March, 2022) Russian biologist and leading tiger expert, Pavel Fomenko, stated that tigers often hunt bears for a "fat tasty steak". Franz Hafner in his new documentary on Amur tigers (2021) also states that in other regions of Russia, which are devoid of tigers, bears are considered to be "apex predators", but in the Ussuri taiga, bears are no longer apex predators, because they get hunted and killed by tigers. Chris Morgan, a world renowned bear ecologist & expert, also stated that back in the U.S. the bears he studies are at the top of the food-chain, but when there are tigers in the woods, bears are on the menu.

Wildlife biologist & large carnivore specialist, Aletris Neils also stated: "You think of bears as top of the food-chain, but not where there's tigers."

So only you consider bears to be "apex" in the same forest as tigers, which makes absolutely no sense. But according to actual experts and authorities, bears are food for tigers.

Quote:Wagdoh is a special Tiger, huge and with years of experience, the Bear he killed may have been adult but was much smaller than he, it’s easily seen in the photos. And no one is saying Tigers can’t prey on Bears but they certainly cannot do so without a major risk of injury which is why Bears can run off adult prime males no matter which sex of the Bear. But the fact remains, I’ve seen a large male Sloth Bear up close and I’ve seen enough interactions between them on video to put 2 and 2 together and there is absolutely no way a Big male Bear vs a Big male Tiger is going to have the same outcome every time. Both are going to get the better of exchanges from time to time.

Yes, Waghdoh was a special tiger and was massive, however, he was very old and withered when he killed the sloth bear. Its not like he was an oldish tiger around 12 years old, he was 17 years old and still killed an adult sloth bear with no problems. Experienced tigers can swiftly kill even large adult bears, just like how experienced tigers can swiftly kill adult gaurs and buffaloes.

I'm not talking about skirmishes between big male sloth bears and tigers, I'm talking about serious fights to the death, in which the bear would stand no chance, period. The tiger is too big, too powerful, too armed and a far superior and skilled killer. A mortal combat situation is nothing but a death sentence for even a big male sloth bear.

Or are you trying to tell me that a big male sloth bear (150-170 kg) is gonna sometimes kill a big male tiger (220-300 kg) in a fight to the death?...  Because that would be ridiculous. Even the average male tiger is just too big and powerful for a large male sloth bear.

According to Valmik Thapar's observations, in direct confrontation, its the sloth bear that usually turns and flee's:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://archive.org/details/tigerportraitofp00thap Reply