Tiger vs. Lion

Tiger versus Lion : Tiger vs Lion : Lion versus Tiger : Lion vs Tiger

Here is a brief blog on when Worlds 2 Biggest Cats come into a conflict

Have you ever thought of / imagined a fight between a Tiger and Lion ? if so, have you guessed who would win the fight?

Geographically Tigers and Lions don't co-exists or very rarely co-exists in the same region, Tigers are more native to the Asia and Siberia, where as the Lions are more native to the African Continent.

When a Tiger and Lion come into conflict, the result will be deadly. The most common reported circumstance of their meeting is in captivity, either deliberately or accidentally.

Historically, the comparative merits of the tiger versus the lion have been a popular topic of discussion by hunters, naturalists, artists, and poets, and continue to inspire the popular imagination in the present day. In the past, lions and tigers reportedly competed in the wilderness, where their ranges overlapped in Eurasia.

Let's take a look at these 2 Big Cats Size Comparison First.

TIGER

Weight : a Large Male Tiger would weigh up to 290 kg

Height : ~110 cm (at shoulder level)

Body Length : ~10 ft (~3 m)

Speed : 65 kph (in a  short bursts)

Bite Force : 1050 psi

Solitary? - Yes ( Tigers are Solitary animals that spend a majority of their lives without others of their species, with possible exceptions for mating and raising their young.)

a Tiger living alone as a solitary animal without living among with its own type gives a survival advantage to the tiger because it needs to find only enough food to sustain itself and its cubs.

LION

Weight : a Large Male Lion would weigh up to 230 kg

Height : ~120 cm (at shoulder level)

Body Length : ~8 ft (~2.5 m)

Speed : up to 80 kph in short bursts

Bite Force : 600 psi

Solitary? - No ( Lions live in groups called 'Pride'. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a small number of adult males.)

Lion not being a solitary animal and lives with group of other lions called as Pride gives advantage to the Lion to defend themselves and protect their cubs from other predators. this perhaps could be the reason why the Lion is called as the "King of the Jungle".

History in captivity

In the circuses of Ancient Rome, exotic beasts, including Barbary lions and tigers, were commonly pitted against each other. The contest of the lion against the tiger was a classic pairing and the betting usually favored the tiger. 

There are different accounts of which of these animals beat or killed the other, throughout time. Although lions and tigers can be kept together in harmony in captivity, conflicts between the two species in captivity, ending up in fatalities, have also been recorded.

here are the documented conflicts between a Tiger and a Lion from Wikipedia.

1. Roman Emperor Titus had Bengal tigers compelled to fight African lions, and the tigers always beat the lions.

2. A tiger called 'Gunga', which belonged to the King of Oude, killed thirty lions, and destroyed another after being transferred to the zoological garden in London.

3. A British officer who resided many years at Sierra Leone saw many fights between lions and tigers, and the tiger usually won.

4. In 1857 an 18-month-old tiger at the Bromwich Zoo broke into the cage of an adult lion. The pair fought, and the young tiger ripped the lion's stomach. The lion died minutes later.

5. At the Coney Island animal show in 1909, a performing lion attacked a chained tiger by leaping through the air, landing on the tiger's back. Though hampered by the heavy neck chain fastened to the iron bars of the arena, the tiger was more than a match for the lion and mangled it to death.

6. In March 2011, a Bengal tiger at the Ankara Zoo passed through a gap, between its cage and that of a lion, and killed it with a single paw swipe. "The tiger severed the lion's jugular vein in a single stroke with its paw, leaving the animal dying in a pool of blood," officials said.

7. In 1934, a fully grown African lion killed a mature Bengal tiger a short time after these circus animals were unloaded from the train, before trainers could separate them.

8. At South Perth Zoo, 1949, in a three-minute fight between a lion and a tiger, the lion killed the tiger. The fight occurred when the tiger put his head through a connecting slide. The lion caught the tiger by the throat, and, dragging it through the opening, killed it before the keepers arrived.

9. At a Circus in Detroit, in February 1951 a large male African lion called 'Prince' suddenly leaped from a high perch and sank its jaws into the back of a Bengal tigress called 'Sheba', while she was performing, catching her off-guard. A blank gun was then fired, Prince let Sheba go, and Sheba dragged herself away. Sheba then died an hour later, because of the injuries sustained.

10. In a corporation zoo in Madras, India, in September 1951, an eighteen-year-old tiger called 'Vikram' entered the cage of a seven-year-old lion called 'Leo', and got into a fight with it. Badly mauled, including in the femur, Vikram retreated into its cage, and despite receiving medical attention, died.

Majority of the documented encounters reports Tigers killing Lions, but these 2 cats are equally powerful and it all depends on the circumstances they live in.

Currently, India is the only country on Earth confirmed to have both lions and tigers in its wilderness. for now, they do not share the same territory in India, but they did in the past in parts of Eurasia