Lions and Tigers in India

[Dr Panthera]

(04-24-2014, 04:08 AM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: It is absolutely incredible, the lone tiger did predate more on the rhino than the lone lion did predate on the cape buffalo.

Tiger was evolved as an ultimate solo predator.

There are only two scientific records of tigers killing adult female Indian rhinos I have come across:
1- Kaziranga in the book " Tigers Forever" a female rhino was killed by tigers ( a courting pair?) while giving birth
2-Chitwan a female rhino was killed by ( a pride of tigers? a tigress and her three grown almost independent cubs) , the rhino had a calf that is cared for by WWF 
All scientifically documented attacks by lone tigers on rhinos are on calves below three years of age ( no horns yet) where tigers are the chief predator of rhino calves taking 15% of new born Kaziranga calves and 10% of Chitwan calves.
Anecdotal reports of lone tiger predation on adult rhinos are extremely rare and not accepted by scientists , forest guards,travellers, hunters, shikaris, adventure writers, observers including myself on safari trips can notice rare behaviour but before it can be recorded scientifically and peer reviewed it will not have any value.
The Cape Buffalo is the third most commonly killed prey animal in Africa after blue wildebeest and plains zebra and possibly contributes the most biomass eaten by lions all over the continent , Africa s 35,000 lions kill close to two million prey animals a year so possibly 300,000-400,000 Buffaloes so even if lone lions kill 1% of these that is still thousands a year versus certainly zero adult rhinos killed by lone tigers, so we cannot agree with you there.
Tigers are superb successful hunters whose lifestyle and environment make them chose medium sized prey for a 2-3 day feast ( adult chital, wild boar , sub-adult sambar) or a large prey for a week long feast ( adult sambar, barasingha, and nilgai or subadult gaur Buffalo banteng ) larger prey ( over 300kg of live weight or 180 kg of edible meat ) will turn to maggot soup in the tropical heat or scavenged by others before the tiger can finish it.
A lion pride on the other hand targets large animals like wildebeest, zebra, kudu, gemsbok, or waterbuck every 3-4 days, snacks of warthog , Impala, or gazelles for one meal, or very large animals like Buffalo,giraffe, elands, and subadult mega fauna when easier prey are not available.
Solo carnivores kill animals less than half of their mass ( Carbon et al.) as we see in Jaguars , leopards, cheetah, and tropical puma....temperate areas puma ( Canada and Patagonia ) , snow leopards, and tigers readily kill prey heavier than them.
Amazing predators! Reply