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

[peter]

'AMUR TIGER IS LOOKING FOR A BLACK BEAR WHILE A LARGE MALE BROWN BEAR FOLLOWS THIS TRACKS' 

In this short (2:03) video (credits Sergej Kolchin), you can see a male Amur tiger trying to find a hibernating Himalayan black bear in the 2019-2020 winter. Himalayan black bears often select hollows in large trees to hibernate. Amur tigers know and, for this reason, often check large trees in winter. According to the liner notes, the male tiger in the video found, and killed, a young Himalayan black bear hibernating in this tree about a year ago. The tiger obviously remembered the tree where he found the young black bear.

The male Ussuri brown bear was following the tiger. It's likely he knew (male) Amur tigers often try to find hibernating Himalayan black bears in winter. Following a male tiger might produce a dead Himalayan black bear or, more likely (recent research strongly suggests male Ussuri brown bears only very seldom displace male Amur tigers from their kills), the remains left by the tiger. Expressed in time (referring to the liner notes), the distance between the male tiger and the male brown bear following him was about a day.    

The brown bear, by the way, wasn't hibernating, because the crop harvest had been poor in 2019. As a result of a lack of fat, the Ussuri male brown bear was forced to continue to search for food in winter. Meaning he was a 'Schatun'. Not every 'Schatun' is a desperate animal trying to find food at all costs, but chances are every desperate brown bear in winter is a 'Schatun'.    

At the end of the video (01:29-2:01), which was uploaded by 'BiL' a few hours ago, you can see both animals (the male tiger and the male brown bear) side by side. They seem to compare in head and body length, but the male brown bear is a bit taller, more robust and, therefore, significantly heavier:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2HxgT3vFCA

For those interested: the one who uploaded the video ('BiL'), posted a lot of interesting videos about (interactions between wild) Amur tigers, Himalayan black bears and Ussuri brown bears. Reply