Felids Interactions - Intraspecific Conflicts

[Pckts]

Of course they can @Siegfried
An upright fighting style is preferred if the option is available, the goal is to gain the higher ground and come down on top of the opponent, even when you see two "bear hugging" each other in the Bipedal stance, it almost always leads to one throwing the other to the ground, this is called Judo in martial arts. When a lion is fighting multiple combatants it does him no good to raise up, raising up now creates an easier target and his balance isn't as good, being knocked down with multiple attackers isn't desirable, fighting off their back is preferred/or used only in a 1 v 1 situation, fighting off their back against multiple attackers leaves too many openings.
This fighting adaption has been perfected by lions while tigers haven't had to perfect such a style so they prefer the style of fighting on two legs, since they will usually only be dealing with 1 combatant and that is the more desirable technique in that situation. But either way, that is just the beginning, when fights between two cats become serious it's almost always once they are engaged in close combat. Once they have latched on, they started ripping and biting, and that is when the battle gets serious. Reply