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Who would win in a fight?


Cunning Runt
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Well?

 

Who wins?

 

My kids and I were goofing off asking questions like these and this one genuinely has me stumped.

 

Assume a big, badass tiger vs. a big badass lion. Does one or the other win always or almost always?

 

What say you?

 

Edit: BJ, please change title to Tiger, not Toger. Freakin' vowels right next to each other.

Edited by Cunning Runt
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http://indrajit.wordpress.com/2006/03/11/l...-of-the-titans/

 

Different people, as it should be, have different opinion on the possible outcome of such fights. Region plays a major role. While most of the East Asian people would put their bet on a tiger, people from other places (other than Cincinnati Bengals fans) pick a lion to win - largely because of more familiarity with stories of one of them (I found that the tiger enjoys good support from South America!). Where you grow up hearing ”Lion is the king of the jungle/beasts” you form the idea that no animal can beat a lion. Similarly, at places like Bangladesh, tiger inspires awe and fear. People who have grown up listening to stories of the might of a tiger, wouldn’t imagine a tiger getting defeated in a fight with another animal.

 

The partisan approach is evident in supposed analyes by Discovery Channel or Lairweb. They keep in mind that they largely serve the population of British origin and so they must ‘analyze’ the cats in a way to make the lion have an advantage! While they mention that there are more lion victories ‘recorded’, I was sent a tourism booklet by Govt of Nepal that claimed “The Bengal tiger is the mightiest of all land animals. Bengal tigers found in Nepal average 550 lbs …………. The closest rival is the lion. But from the documented accounts, fights always ended in the tigers’ favor.” A PBS web site mentioned later in this post claims the same. Also, the size comparison by National Geographic, if true, means that a lion has no chance whatsoever against a Siberian tiger. So, no proper ‘recorded’ or ‘documented’ evidence really.

 

A lion is frequently picked because of the intimidating appearance and the wrong notion that they are generally bigger than tigers. I had even found a web site of a zoo that says an average lion is 1.5 times as big as an average Bengal tiger!

 

Some European powers have (had) lion as national symbol (Some had tiger, too, like the Nazis). When the British ruled over India, numerous mentions of “victory of British lion over Indian tiger” have been made. So it’s not surprising that most of the Indians ’consider’ a lion to be much bigger and stronger than a tiger. Also, the Indian surname ‘Singh’ means ‘lion’, making a lot of people with that surname ‘believe’ that the lion is the strongest animal on this planet. On the same tone, the Chinese paintings of tiger fighting a dragon, make a lot of them think that the only enemy that a tiger might have, is a ‘dragon’. A tiger is supposed to bear the Chinese royal mark on the forehead.

Edited by Hat Trick
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Was about to link that, sure looks like the Tigerr started out strong and then proceeded to get his tail kicked.

 

Edit......I stand corrected and it looks like I was wrong the Tiger ends up killing the Lion

Edited by Hat Trick
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Let's see....

 

Tiger's are generally larger (i.e. heavier), especially the Siberian variety.

 

Tiger's are solitary hunters and prey on pretty large beasts. Lions (females) hunt in groups and usually don't bring down anything larger than themselves. Male lions do a whole lot of posturing with each other, but rarely fight to the death.

 

If you put the two in a ring and only one could walk out, my money is on the tiger.

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Was about to link that, sure looks like the Tigerr started out strong and then proceeded to get his tail kicked.

 

Edit......I stand corrected and it looks like I was wrong the Tiger ends up killing the Lion

 

I thought the same thing until I read the summary. The video appears real.

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I'd put the money down on the tiger. Lions hunt in groups, tigers kill all alone. That clip is in an unnatural setting and I wonder if they had claws ground down. They looked like captive animals if not circus animals.

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They looked like captive animals if not circus animals.

 

The well-known Clyde Beatty film, "The Big Cage", documents a circus on the verge of bankruptcy. Beatty's attempted performance erupted ... all » into a shocking fight which was recorded on film.

 

In the story, Beatty tames the cats and continues in the tradition of 'the show must go on'. Privately Beatty admitted even he had no possible hope of separating the big cats and the lion went on to maul the tiger to death.

 

For over 50 years the scene was thought by viewers to be a well-staged dramatic scene, but is now recognised as a documentary showing an actual killing.

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from that link...

 

Relative Advantages (of a Tiger) Over a Lion:

 

-Longer and often larger size. Now this is often posed by the people who pick a tiger to win, as a serious threat to a lion. A larger yet more agile body of a tiger is really a serious threat to a lion. But this alone can not be a decisive factor.

-More powerful back legs. This helps a tiger to leap more, to spring from a disadvantageous position and to make sudden moves. This is of tremendous advantage to the tiger. This gives the tiger the ability to rest its weight on the hind legs and make swipes with both of the front legs. When you look at the tiger vs lion fight videos, you may notice that this is a huge advantage to the tiger. Plus, the strong hindquarters allow them to attack from the side and spring from unexpected/disadvantageous corners. Moreover, a tiger makes faster swipes than a lion. Tigers are more agile than lions.

-Skills of ambush attacking, tree-climbing, swimming etc are handy if the going gets tough. Plus, tigers are faster runners. These are all defence mechanisms for a tiger just as the mane is for a lion.

-More stamina and power, and a more muscular built. More stamina of a tiger may be a debatable thing, though. The ‘power’/strength of a cat is generally proportional to it’s size.

-Longer canines and larger paws. These are the ultimate weapons of a cat. Tigers have considerable advantage here.

And here’s a video showcasing tigers. And I found this video to be very interesting. Here is more of Siberian tigers.

 

Relative advantages (of a lion) over a tiger:

 

-Thick protective mane. It also makes a lion look much bigger, heavier and taller than it really is. This is of immediate psychological disadvantage to any animal fighting a lion. It’s downright scary to see a lion coming towards you roaring. A lioness, even if it were of similar size, wouldn’t inspire as much awe. From the fight videos, it does seem that the mane is of huge advantage to the lion. In the only fight-video of a maneless (shaved) lion, the lion seemed too easy to beat by the tiger. The mane is the biggest weapon for a lion - both for defence and for scaring off the opponent.

-More massively built shoulders. Both the cats have extremely powerful and muscular ’shoulders’. But a lion has it more developed and stronger than a similar-sized tiger. Again, this is an advantage for the lion.

-Role played as a fighter. This is the most important point cited by the ones who pick a lion to win. A lion is built to be a fighter - super-strong forequarters, protective mane, shorter ears, large head (compared to its body), a big muzzle and strong jaws. In every respect, it seems to have been built for pit fights. And lions do fight over territory and mating fairly often.

-Taller structure. This makes the lion more intimidating. Also, this somewhat compensates for the weaker hindquarters.

 

seems like tigers are probably slightly bigger, stronger and more athletic (on average)...while lions are more used to actually fighting (each other, hyenas, big african herbivores, etc). pretty good case to be made either way.

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Watch this version to see the end and killing.

 

http://www.noolmusic.com/blogs/a_real_lion...als_video.shtml

 

it looks like a fairly even fight that coulda gone either way, but the tiger, whether young or female, is clearly smaller than the lion, whereas in general tigers are larger than a lion of the same age/sex. so a girl tiger whups an adult male lion? i'd say that's gotta settle the debate, no?

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Easy answer: the Detroit Tigers.

They've actually won a World Series in recent memory..

 

The Detroit Lions haven't won anything in 50 years.

 

I'd put my money on a tiger for the reasons stated earlier:

The tiger hunts alone on large animals.

Female lions hunt in a pack, the males are pretty lazy.

 

Tigers swim, so if it turns into a water fight... game over.

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it looks like a fairly even fight that coulda gone either way, but the tiger, whether young or female, is clearly smaller than the lion, whereas in general tigers are larger than a lion of the same age/sex. so a girl tiger whups an adult male lion? i'd say that's gotta settle the debate, no?

 

Ya - I agree. The tiger does look to be quite a bit smaller than the lion. Not sure if that's a fair comparison. Remember- badass tiger vs. badass lion. THAT is the question.

Edited by Cunning Runt
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