Tiger Predation

[Apex Titan]

(11-06-2024, 03:03 PM)Spalea Wrote: @WildWarlord :

To sum up you:

- The bengal tiger avoids the saltie croc, yes but the saltie croc avoids the tiger too, yes but the tiger avoids less the saltie croc than vice versa... 
- I could believe reading a grocer's analysis. And you accidentally don't confuse a mugger croc with a salty croc ? After all in India, it's possible to confuse them, even if the salti croc is clearly bigger.
- No, no, and even in deep water, a salti croc would avoid to be hurt by the tiger. Because the tiger is even an aquatic top predator ! And so on...

OK, just say once again the tiger is the super-mega-ultra-invincible beast predator and everybody will be able to sleep soundly. And a so simple-minded vision of the wild animal life would remain possible.

Even if,  personally, I think that a tiger crossing into water a seven-meters salti croc in its true homeland, Nothern Australia, would be in a very serious trouble. But I am really not an expert, only common sense...

I agree, a tiger crossing into water with a 7 meter (23 ft!) saltwater crocodile would be in serious trouble. No tiger would stand a chance against such a huge saltie in deep water.

However, to be fair, 'WildWarlord' is not just making things up. He's personally contacted biologists, researchers, and field directors who work in the Sundarbans and study the relationship between the tigers and saltwater crocodiles. He's referencing very good and reliable sources.

The crocodiles that tigers coexist with in the Sundarbans (Bangladesh) are only salties, not mugger crocs. Mugger crocs were declared extinct in Bangladesh in the 20th century. So there are no mugger crocs living in the Sundarbans:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10931098/

In the Sundarbans, tigers routinely swim, hunt, and cross through saltwater crocodile infested waters, in fact, tigers thrive in these waters. And only in very rare cases, have saltwater crocodiles been known to attack tigers in deep water. As a rule, even in deep water, saltwater crocodiles avoid tigers who are swimming through. Why do you think that is?

If saltwater crocodiles posed a serious threat to tigers in the water, then the Sundarban tigers wouldn't be semi-aquatic predators then. And they wouldn't be actively swimming, hunting, and thriving in saltwater crocodile infested waters. But they do, this is telling. Note, Sundarban tigers are the smallest of the Bengal tiger populations, significantly smaller than mainland Bengal tigers, and yet, they are still able to rival the largest subspecies of crocodiles - saltwater crocs in the water. This is according to biologists and researchers who work in the Sundarbans.

"A long-distance swimmer: Unlike tigers on the mainland, the Sundarbans tigers comfortably migrate across borders, swimming from one island to another."

https://roundglasssustain.com/conservati...sundarbans

There are also multiple reports of tigers preying on saltwater crocodiles, and even fighting them off in deep water while swimming. But overall, in general, both species avoid each other. The saltie has the advantage in deep water, while the tiger has the advantage on land. Reply