Which are stronger pound for pound Herbivores or Carnivores?

[Jimmy]

(12-03-2016, 08:57 PM)parvez Wrote:

(12-03-2016, 08:07 PM)brotherbear Wrote:

(12-03-2016, 07:57 PM)parvez Wrote: I believe gaurs horns are more built for combat than water buffalo. can you explain?

The buffalo's horns are wide-spaced, more of a design for bulls pushing against each other. Not a great design for hooking into a tiger ( for example ). The gaur's horns are about the perfect size and closer together; better for defense.

There are few cases of water buffaloes hooking into a tiger. Now can i say you have utter hatred for tigers and insulting them? Anyways, not all water buffaloes have wide spaced horns, a few to look at. They seem to be present in extremely large specimens. Even if present, they allow more control of defense over larger ranges while in confrontation with predator or other bulls and helpful for more control over wider ranges. It is not limitation IMO. They can effectively use them over wider ranges.
 

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*This image is copyright of its original author

the 2nd pic is not of a pure wild water buffalo, so i don't count this horn as a typical of the wild form that a tiger naturally encounters. For me wild water buffaloes horn is more suited defensively against tigers. One thing, they are by nature more aggressive and not readily spooked like gaur, when they form phalanx with the herd, their long horns end to end form a great impenetrable chain that would act as a deterrent factor and absolutely discourage any predator from advancing, more so than the gaur, so in the case of the herd, wild water buffaloes definitely poses a greater defense against a predator. Things get more interesting with solitary bulls. but here, wild buffalo still has an upper hand in my view. Even in the case where a tiger actually ambushed and managed to climb on it's back. The long backward reaching horn still poses a threat to the predator on it's back and the horn can score a hit even at this point, if not, it will still keep the predator at bay and prevent it from advancing any further like the nape region. This is quite a contrast with that of a gaur's horn design which is short, good for attacking when the predator is in front but has no reach behind. Now for the design, wild water buffaloes horn functions differently, rather than upward lifting action and hooking like cattle, they go forward and sway quickly sideways slashing, since their horns are triangular in cross section with a cutting edge, albeit a blunt one, if they cut, the base of their horn gradually is so thick and wide that the longer they cut the danger is that they will insert their whole 3 foot horn and start jerking which can tear through and come off. Now will this be effective against other bovine? that i am not sure, and gaurs are one of the most impressive themselves but for toughness i still think buffaloes are more formidable than gaur. Though they don't have large shoulders, hump and muscles, they are more proportionately built, stocky perfect balance  with big feet, short legs etc. Gaur will have an advantage with their sharper horns more than anything in my view. If it was in nature like water holes, salt licks etc. i think wild water buffaloes will be up on hierarchy over gaur by a slim margin i believe.

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