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Big cat and Bear tale
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Source initially posted by GuateGojira.
In a serious fight between a tiger and sloth bear, the bear was killed and eaten:  *This image is copyright of its original author
@Apex Titan
Another look at the tiger and sloth bear interactions. I don't like the narrator's tone but the fact is: the sloth bear doesn't fear the tiger, thus I don't dare to imagine what happens really (story not related by a fanatic tiger lover) between bigger bears and the tiger. Tiger is an apex predator like the other ones, not at all a "super" apex predator without mercy and weakness. Sometimes the tiger wins, sometimes the bear (sloth bear, Himalayan bear and brown bear) wins. (04-27-2022, 02:40 AM)Spalea Wrote: @Apex Titan Sloth bears, in general, do fear and avoid tigers. Thats why in most cases, when confronted by an adult tiger, the bear either flee's or acts defensively aggressive trying to discourage the tiger from attacking. But overall, as tigers are natural predators of sloth bears, the bear has an innate fear of tigers. At best, a sloth bear and Himalayan black bear can fend off a semi-serious tiger attack. But in serious mortal combat with a tiger, the bear is always killed and eaten. This is what history consistently shows. Sloth bears and Himalayan black bears in a serious fight against a tiger is a mismatch in favor of the tiger. The tiger is just too big, too armed and too powerful for these species of bears. Even for the large male bears of these species. No doubt that sloth bears and Himalayan black bears are formidable and powerful animals, with some individuals reaching weights (especially the latter species) well over 400 lb. But overall, the tiger is much more formidable and powerful, hence why the tiger preys on these bears. The video you posted, clearly shows a tiger thats not fully determined to kill the bear. At points in the fight, it looks like the tiger is toying with the bear, easily pinning the bear down and not aggressively attacking. The tiger becomes disinterested and retreats back to the water hole, but he still achieved his goal. He kept the bears away from the water hole and the bears fled back into the jungle. If that tiger was fully committed to killing that sloth bear, it would have certainly done it. You need to understand, that sloth bear was literally fighting for its life, whereas the tiger was not, and thats how all fights between tigers and sloth bears/Himalayan black bears go. The bear is the one in mortal danger, never the tiger. The only bear species capable of defeating tigers in a serious fight to the death, are brown bears and polar bears, because these bears don't lack the size and strength to fight with tigers. Here's an example of a determined tiger easily killing a sloth bear: Even when adult male sloth bears spot a young tiger/tigress from a distance, the bear usually retreats to avoid a confrontation: Observations from wildlife ecologist, K. Yoganand, showed that sloth bears actively avoid tigers: However, it is possible that the bears may be avoiding certain micro-habitats that tigers frequently use, or actively avoid tigers by avoiding places where they are present. I have found evidences of active avoidance of tigers by sloth bears and relatively frequent vigilance behaviour in bears (personal observations) in Panna NP. My observations on interactions that sloth bears had with con-specifics, tigers and humans in Panna indicate that there are several responses that are common in these interactions, particularly in the way sloth bears reacted to both tigers and humans. Sloth bears actively avoided tigers and humans when they became aware of their presence in advance. When they heard suspicious sounds made by humans, tigers, or even alarms raised by other animals such as sambar (Cervus unicolor) or common langur (Trachypithecus entellus) to the presence of predators or humans, the bears became vigilant. They paused their activity and waited for further sounds or scents, looked in the direction of the sound, or exhibited such vigilant behaviour. When the bears sensed the presence of adversaries, they stopped their activity, moved in a different direction or even took shelter under secure cover. Sometimes, they did not emerge out of dens until long after their usual times of start of activity. Occasionally they also fled on sensing a threat, or at other times, they rushed towards the tiger or the human. Similar reactions were also observed in Chitwan NP, Nepal. At close quarters, sloth bears reacted to humans and tigers similarly, often by roaring and running away, or roaring and attacking before retreating (Laurie and Seidensticker 1977). https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Be...01a33db0ed Yoganand came across five cases of tigers killing sloth bears, and twice of eating them:  *This image is copyright of its original author https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EU3i...rs&f=false
@Apex Titan :
Yes, agree with you, if the tiger is firmly determined to killing the sloth bear, it will kill it, no problem... But it would be a serious fight, not something to be taken lightly. One of the sloth bear's behaviour particularity is to sleep on the ground, not into a den, but directly on the ground. And this in a biotop, a place, inhabited by the tiger. Thus, the sloth bear doesn't live in the constant fear of being aggressed by the striped felid. If the tiger on the hunt can choose its prey, it will not select this bear. The dangerous predator is the predator which doesn't want to be detected. If the tiger is spotted, the smallest antelope wouldn't fear it, being aware of its higher speed. If a sloth bear cross a tiger which isn't attempting to hide from it, it knows that the fight will not occur. A skirmish in most cases (like in the video I posted...). (04-28-2022, 12:23 AM)Spalea Wrote: @Apex Titan : I agree with your points. Interestingly, although some Bengal tigers have been known to habitually hunt and kill sloth bears, and often hunt sloth bears in reserves like Panna, the Amur tiger, although co-existing with larger species of bears like brown bears and Himalayan/Ussuri black bears, is much more aggressive towards bears than Bengal tigers are.
@Apex Titan :
About #442: agree with you. Among felids there are always "specialists", some predators specialized in hunting some big preys, for exemple tigers killing often adults gaurs and bears and big boars i.e. some big preys difficult to overcome, whereas numerous other smaller preys would be much easier to kill. In the opposite case, in India there are numerous small parks without these important preys where the tigers have to contend with deers and small antelopes. A bad effect of the human action...
Pilibhit Tiger with its Sloth Bear kill
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to 'Rage2277' for initially posting this video in the Tiger predation thread.
Tiger killed a large sloth bear:  (06-23-2022, 08:28 AM)sanjay Wrote:(06-22-2022, 05:59 PM)Apex Titan Wrote: Credits to 'Rage2277' for initially posting this video in the Tiger predation thread. T-120 seems to be an aggressive tiger, he also killed a leopard. Its likely he killed this sloth bear. The Ranthambore National Park youtube channel also uploaded this video. They said that the tiger killed the bear: (Morning safari in zone 3)
Kartik Prasad Chitnis
FACE OFFFFF..... TIGER VS SLOTH BEAR... TATR... APR 2019.... the Kartik Prasad Chitnis bear challenged him face to face and as the tiger backed off bear went away....  *This image is copyright of its original author
  *This image is copyright of its original author Sloth Bear vs Kuwani cub!! We entered Zari gate with big expectations from Kuwani and cubs. Got Kuwani cubs resting in the bushes right away. After spending sometime, we decided to look for Kuwani as we had fresh pugmarks leaving the area where the cubs were resting. Just when we started moving away from the cubs, we had a sloth bear heading towards the waterbody near the cubs. Our guide Maruthi suggested we go back to the cubs and see if something interesting happens. That turned out to be a massive blessing as the cubs dashed out of the bushes and intently starting following the bear. All 3 had their eyes locked on to the Bear while the Bear happily was having his drink. Just when we thought we were lucky to sight and capture those memorable frames, one of the cub decided to give a go at the bear. The bear stood his ground momentarily, claws ready to inflict serious damage if attacked and that's when I captured this frame. After this, they went inside and continued their brawl. Just when this was happening, we had another sloth bear coming from the opposite side. It quickly went inside the bush and after a brief pass, the commotion started all over again!! As if this was not enough, Kuwani showed up as if she heard everything and wanted to ensure her cubs are safe. What followed was a 4KM head-on that went on for the remaining time of the safari. That's for another day though Kuwani cub vs sloth bear, Zari-Kolsa, Jun'22. credits to =AZXnMRSPxg-OiOaMhqEIo0T9bkUgWeaHZN12rga3pt0yhAL2saIgpM4MnhSqFicEjMGwZUe000RPBdsnAzssL-IL7VQeV5-cL8gDeiezwmiJUj_s7xK4CumR6ETLaPnPZjgBOcTeSNc6yWWuZCIlhimT&__tn__=-]C%2CP-R]Pradeep Srirengan
@Ashutosh
7 days ago wildlife photographer Aditya Dicky Singh tweeted that his friend shot a sequence of a male tiger killing and eating a sloth bear. Is there anyway your able to contact him and ask him to post the pictures/video?  *This image is copyright of its original author https://mobile.twitter.com/adityadickysi...2651267073 |
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