ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[Apex Titan]

@peter 

I'll make a 2 part post to answer your questions. In the 2nd part, I'll address Sysoev and Krechmar's opinions. The information below will confirm that adult male brown bears are certainly prey for tigers, and are occasionally hunted and eaten. Biologists also agree that large bears are prey of tigers.

As to your 1st question:

The reason the evidence of tiger predation on adult male brown bears is so limited, is because various biologists did a terrible job at specifying the details about some cases. For example, biologist Matyushkin found (in the hunting grounds of a tiger) the remains of an adult brown bear killed and eaten by a tiger, but unfortunately, he never specified the bear's gender. Biologist Kucherenko (in addition to some large brown bears killed and eaten by tigers) reported 7 cases of adult brown bears 'crushed' by tigers, but unfortunately, even he didn't specify the bears genders. However (see below), Kucherenko did report that he's observed at least several cases of large brown bears killed and eaten by tigers. The weight range he gave (200-300 kg) of the killed bears, clearly indicates that adult male brown bears were killed by tigers.

Biologist Bromley found the carcass of a 170 kg adult brown bear mauled, killed, and partially eaten by a tigress in spring, but unfortunately, even he failed to specify the killed brown bear's gender. Biologist V. Mazak also mentioned that the 170 kg brown bear was an 'adult bear' killed by the tigress, but even he also never specified the gender of the killed bear. Biologist Rakov reported a case of a tiger that killed a large brown bear along the Svetlaya river. The tiger lived near the bear kill for 10 days until he consumed it, but Rakov also failed to specify the killed brown bear's gender. Now, the question is, why do biologists often fail to specify the gender of 'adult' or 'large' brown bears hunted, killed, and eaten by tigers?

It's because of this common mistake, the relationship dynamics (referring to predation on adult male brown bears) between Amur tigers and adult male brown bears is left ambiguous. What a shame. All biologists had to do was clarify the genders of the killed adult brown bears and then we would have a much clearer picture. But they failed.

However, based on plenty of hard evidence I've seen and read about, there's absolutely no doubt that adult male brown bears, including large males, are certainly on the tigers menu. There are just too many reliable accounts and sources that indicate this. It doesn't matter which frequency adult male brown bears are killed at, the fact that sometimes they do get hunted, killed, and eaten by tigers, confirms that even large male brown bears are prey for tigers. 

Vaillant also stated: "There is no creature in the taiga that is off limits to the tiger." He notes that Amur tigers eat everything from salmon, ducks, wolves to adult brown bears.

V.G. Yudin (biologist, tiger ecologist & senior researcher) reports that black and brown bears are regularly hunted by tigers in summer. And reported that LARGE bears are prey for adult male tigers.

DIET OF LARGE PREDATORS ( ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE TIGER ): METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS - 2008 V.G. Yudin

"The badger (a numerous, widespread and accessible species), the raccoon dog, hares (white hare and Manchurian), birds and other small animals, that in summer, along with roe deer and bears (Himalayan and Brown), take on the main pressure of tiger predation."

*This image is copyright of its original author

"An adult male (tiger) has physical access not only to bull deer, but even to large bears and billhooks (large, mature male wild boar)."

*This image is copyright of its original author

When Amur tigers hunt brown bears, they usually prefer to target adult female brown bears, than adult male brown bears. Why? because a female brown bear (150-200 kg) will provide the tiger with a good amount of meat for a week, but also poses less risk, and a higher chance of a quick kill. And even then, in some cases, large female brown bears can put up a tough, prolonged fight before being killed.

Although male tigers are more than capable of killing even the largest male brown bears in a head-on fight, and by ambush, hunting adult male brown bears (265 - 280 kg average weight) on a regular basis significantly increases the chances of a fight taking place or injuries, which a tiger, as a solitary predator, cannot afford to do regularly. So hunting adult female brown bears more often makes more sense for a tiger, as they (adult female brown bears) are large animals, but easier to kill than an adult male brown bear who is significantly heavier than an average male tiger (200 kg). So that's why there's no proof of tigers hunting adult male brown bears on a "regular basis".

In spite of the adult male brown bears weight advantage, they are, no doubt, sometimes hunted and killed by tigers, as there are several reliable cases documented by biologists, rangers, and hunters of Amur tigers killing mostly large male brown bears.

Biologist, Kucherenko's Observations

S.P. Kucherenko has, in several cases, personally found the remains of large brown bears (200-300 kg) killed and eaten by tigers:

"Our numerous observations have also shown that an adult tiger eats a piglet of average fatness (about 30 kilograms) or half a two-year-old sow in one sitting. A tiger usually eats a red deer or a wild boar weighing 150-200 kilograms in a week. The animal lives for 8-10 days near a crushed large bear (weighing 200-300 kg, 2-3 'centners')."

"Of all animals, only a large brown bear can overcome it. And even then, the victims are usually young, not yet strong tigers or tiger cubs. Even a large bear will not take an adult tiger. On the contrary, I have encountered large bears killed and eaten by a tiger. An average tiger is always stronger than an average bear."

https://litresp.ru/chitat/ru/%D0%9A/kuch...bya-doma/6

According to Kucherenko's personal (and numerous) observations, adult male brown bears certainly fall prey to tigers from time to time. He's seen multiple cases. Note, 200-300 kg is in the weight range of fully-grown adult male brown bears. Also, just like biologists Aramilev and Dunishenko said, Kucherenko said even a large brown bear cannot defeat an adult male tiger.

Here's another confirmed case from a scientific study on Amur tiger predation. This case strongly suggests that the tiger hunted and killed an adult male brown bear. Why? because the male bear was able to fend off the tigers initial attack, a young brown bear wouldn't have been able to. Young brown bears are easy pickings for a tiger.

Search of Prey and Tactic of Hunting of the Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica).

"In winter 1982, L.V. Kirsta, chief forester of the Reserve, and A.D. Saiko observed a tiger chasing a male brown bear for more than 500 meters. Attacking the bear running away along the valley of the key from the terrace of the narrow end of the watershed and failing to kill it, the tiger jumped hundreds of meters to intercept the bear, from where it made a new ambush attack, trying to claw its neck. As a result, the tiger managed to capture the male bear."

https://www.researchgate.net/publication...is_altaica

This was a clear-cut case of a tiger persistently hunting down a male brown bear and killing him. Again, the fact that the bear was able to fend off the tigers initial attack, suggests that it was an adult male brown bear.

Tigress kills a large male brown bear ('Meetings with the Amur Tiger', 2005 - S.P. Kucherenko)

In his book, biologist Kucherenko recollects a factual account of a tigress that deliberately stalked and killed a large, adult male brown bear much larger than herself. Judging by the description, the tigress was clearly very skilled and experienced at killing bears. This is an eyewitness account from a very seasoned and hereditary hunter named Andrey Efremovich, who saw a tigress hunt and kill a big male brown bear in autumn. He personally told this incident to biologist Kucherenko. 

Here's the account:

https://litmir.club/br/?b=170047&p=33

About the book: 'Meetings with the Amur Tiger' and the author:

The author of the book is a famous Far Eastern writer, scientist, biologist-game expert, candidate of biological sciences. For many years he has been studying the ecology of the tiger. Stories about the meetings with the ruler of the Ussuri taiga, written on factual material, allow us to learn about the habits and lifestyle of a rare predator listed in the Red Book."

https://royallib.com/book/kucherenko_ser...igrom.html

https://www.labirint.ru/books/475154/

Here's Krechmar's take on this book:

"Sergey Petrovich Kucherenko has published another book about the Amur tiger. This time it is a popular science publication, which tells about the numerous encounters with the tiger in the taiga."

"S. Kucherenko and E. Smirnov were the undisputed champions in encounters with this predator."

https://kiowa-mike.livejournal.com/126404.html

Picture depicting the tigress pouncing on the large male brown bear from a boulder: (Based on a factual eyewitness account)

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Russian biologist E. Smirnov and his team, followed the fresh tracks of a tiger steadfastly hunting down a large brown bear. Unfortunately, Smirnov and his team returned back to camp before it got dark, so they never found out if the tiger had killed the large brown bear. But, this case also undoubtedly proves that Amur tigers indeed prey on large brown bears.

Experienced hunter Valery Yankovsky also found the remains of a very large male brown bear killed and eaten by a large male tiger near the Sungari river. Yankovsky never found signs of a struggle, which suggests that the tiger had killed the huge male brown bear swiftly with one bite. Can a large tiger kill large brown bears with a single bite at the base of the skull? 100% yes, confirmed by my previous post. (Goodrich, Dunishenko).

Although Yankovsky in his book: 'Tiger, Deer, Ginseng' never gave specific details about the killed bear's species or gender, he did however, specify the details about the killed bear to renowned Czech biologist & zoologist V. Mazak via personal letter. In his book, Yankovsky did mention that the bear had a "large head" and paw. 

'Tiger, Deer, Ginseng' - V. Yankovsky:

Shin says: the tiger roared deafeningly, fell over, but immediately jumped up and, in three leaps, reached the forest, disappeared, dissolved in it. For some time the noise of jumping, breaking bushes was heard, then everything became quiet. At the place of the bed Shin found blood, next to it - a large head and the remains of a bear's paw: apparently the ruler was resting after a hearty breakfast."

https://coollib.in/b/261421-valeriy-yure...nshen/read

Some time later, Yankovsky wrote a letter to biologist Mazak, and specifically mentioned that the tiger had killed and eaten a very large male brown bear. Mazak mentions this fact in his book: 'Der Tiger'.

Mazak wrote: (Credits to Peter who initially posted this account)

"To complete the information on this giant tiger, I should perhaps mention that Yankovsky wrote that the tiger had killed and eaten a very large male brown bear a few days before he was shot, of which only a leg and the head, found by Yankovsky, remained."....

*This image is copyright of its original author

Biologist Mazak even drew a sketch depicting a tiger killing an adult male brown bear:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Amur tigers have been hunting bears for many thousands of years. And just in a century's worth of literature, we already have numerous accounts of tigers hunting and killing large brown bears, and interestingly, most of which were large male brown bears killed and eaten. So imagine, throughout many millennia, there must have been hundreds, if not, thousands of adult male brown bears hunted, killed and eaten by tigers in the extremely vast and remote Amur-Ussuri taiga forests.

Modern scientific studies & research shows that Amur tigers mainly prey on adult bears. And some of the killed bears were large, similar in size to their killers (adult male tigers). And of course, we have the most recent case of a medium-sized male tiger 'Odyr' who hunted and killed a large 'impressive sized' adult male brown bear in a fight (November, 2022).

According to old and modern scientific literature and research (all biologists and researchers agree): "Amur tigers prey on adult brown bears"... not adult "female" brown bears, but biologists say: "adult brown bears". Biologists have never excluded adult male brown bears as prey for tigers. I've never seen anywhere (no book, no scientific study, no article, etc) where an actual biologist who studies wild Amur tigers and bears, has stated that adult males, including large males, brown bears are "immune" to tiger predation. Nowhere.

All biologists agree that "Amur tigers are the main natural enemy and predator of adult brown bears" in the south of the Far East (Amur-Ussuri taiga).

Was a highly experienced and seasoned ranger like Yuri Kya shocked at the fact that Odyr was able to hunt and kill a larger, adult male brown bear in a head-on fight? No. Like all Far East Russian biologists, zoologists, hunters, and rangers, Yuri Kya knows that bears are common prey of tigers. And adult bears are regularly hunted and killed. But in many cases, biologists and rangers are unable to determine the sex or age of the bear killed, because the tiger has already consumed most of the bear. So there could easily have been numerous cases of adult male brown bears that were killed and eaten by tigers in recent times.

Also note, majority of the remains of bears (killed by tigers) are found in tiger excrement. Not carcasses, which are much harder to find. Biologist Sergey Kolchin has repeatedly found the remains (fur and bone fragments) of brown bears in tiger excrement, but was unable to determine the bears sizes or genders. According to Kolchin's observations, brown bears are common prey for adult male tigers.

Also remember, Amur tigers (except for a few juveniles in 2014) are not radio-collared and tracked anymore. Their kills are not being tracked and monitored by biologists. Those days of radio-collaring field research are long gone. So what are the chances of biologists these days finding adult male brown bears killed by tigers? Very, very low. Yuri Kya was lucky that he happened to be in the right place, at the right time, during a forest raid.

All in all, although the information suggests that adult male brown bears are not hunted on a "regular basis", there's no doubt that they are occasionally hunted and killed by experienced adult tigers, which means they are certainly on the menu. Reply