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SHAKUNT PANDEY RTICLE A

EATURE F

Physical Aspects Behaviour in Wild and Captivity Like humans, and tigers have a Lions are social and live and distinct character, temperament and hunt in groups called prides. The tiger trait. IONS are often called the King of is a solitary and hunts alone. Lthe Jungle. But is it true? Or have The average length of a male tiger According to Craig Saffoe, a biologist and they been wrongly crowned and a grave is 3.3 metres and according to some curator of great cats at the Smithsonian injustice been done to the other illustrious records its length is up to 3.75 metres long in Washington D.C., the tigers are and biggest member of the cat family – including the length of its tail. On the more aggressive and have a killer instinct. the Tiger? other hand, the length of a is between They usually go for the throat, go for the 2.3 to 2.7 meters and some records peg kill. Ever wondered, if a lion is pitted this length to 3 metres including the Lions in a pride can bank on one against a tiger who will win this length of its tail. another but the loner tiger has no backup. fight? This million dollar question excites The tiger weighs more than 300 kg This is because they are conditioned as well as puzzles the mind of the young and the lion weighs around 250 kg which through evolution never to depend on and old alike. indicates that the tiger is more muscular help from any quarters and always to go What will happen when these two and well built than the lions. for the quick kill. It is this ruthlessness fierce big cats have a showdown? Will it The width of the front of a tiger that gives tigers the edge. be a close contest? Or will this battle be a reaches 10.5 cm to 11.5 cm. The length of The Alipore (Calcutta) Zoological one sided affair and end in a few minutes? its sharp claws is between 9 and 10 cm. Gardens’ first superintendent Ram Or will it continue for eternity without a The width of the front paw of the lion is Brahma Sanyal’s observation was that the result? about 7.5 cm. Although its claws measure tigers that were brought up in captivity Let’s take into account the physical 8 cm they are comparatively not as sharp were generally milder in disposition and aspects, particularly the behaviour of as those of the tigers. The hind legs of the were sometimes tame enough to allow these majestic beasts and records of fights tigers are very strong and help it to make the keepers and others to handle them, that have taken place between a lion and great leaps whereas the hind legs of the but their temper can never be trusted. It a tiger from time to time to come to a lions are not as strong as those of the is a marked peculiarity of tigers that even plausible and acceptable conclusion. tiger’s. Lions hardly ever leap. the tamest become savage at feeding time.

SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2014 34 FEATURE ARTICLE

WhWho will ill win i a fi ghtht between b t a tiger ti andd a lion? ?L Let’ t’s fi ndd out. t

Tigers often fight each other, Once, in Italy, there was a lion that “…the tiger with an audacity superior seriously injuring one another. “Being called “Cero II” who had made a name to his nature, even braves the lion himself. determined to fight, they would manage for himself by killing many beasts in This is undoubtedly correct, for although it either by standing on their hind legs staged combats. However this lion there are but few if any instances recorded or sometimes jumping up against the was said to have been killed by a tiger. where the lion has voluntarily attacked or gratings and clawing each other through Robert Edmond Sherwood in his work killed a tiger, there are several well known the upper bars…” (Management of Recollections of an Old Clown (1926) cases of tigers having attacked and killed Animals in Captivity in Lower , writes, “The tiger is a fighter. Place one lions.” 1892) full grown tiger and three lions in the The female of the Thus, whether in the wild or in same cage and the tiger will come forth has also killed the male of the Panthera captivity the tigers are more aggressive badly disfigured but alive…” Obviously, leo and there are at least two recorded than the lions. he made this statement based on his own instances of this. Francis Buckland in his experience of seeing lions and tigers from work Curiosities of Natural History (1882) close quarters in . describes such a battle where a tigress in Earlier Results of Lion and Renowned naturalist Charles a in Birmingham seized a lion Tiger Fights Darwin in his The Descent of Man And by its throat and killed it within a few The earliest records of fights between Selection In Relation To Sex tells about a minutes. lions and tigers dates back to the Roman battle between a tiger and a lion. In 1857, According to Northern Advocate of 28 times. In the reign of Emperor Titus, Royal a tiger at Bromwick broke into the cage January 1921, “Nearly thirty years ago a Bengal Tigers and African Lions were of a lion and charged at him. Though the fight occurred at Regent’s Park between imported. In a single arena, not only one- lion’s mane saved his head and neck from a tigress and a lion brought up together. to-one lion and tiger fights were staged injury the tiger succeeded in ripping up They had lived in the same cage for two but there were also group fights where his belly, and in a couple of minutes the years with only an occasional friendly five lions were pitted against four tigers lion was dead. indifference. Then one Sunday the tigress and the tigers were usually victorious in In Wild Animals Photographed and suddenly seized the lion by the throat and such combats. Described (1866), John Fortune Nott says held him down and strangled him.” 35 SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2014 FEATURE ARTICLE

Left: A famous portrait of a lion and tiger fi ght, painted by James Ward in the . The lion is surprisingly being shown to be having the upper hand in the duel.

Francis Buckland in his work Curiosities of Natural History (1882) describes such a battle where a tigress in a menagerie in Birmingham seized a lion by its throat and killed it within a few minutes.

In 1906, a short but fatal battle Keepers of the zoo armed with pikes and They were, therefore, temporarily kept took place between a lion and a tiger in clubs made fruitless efforts to part the apart, the lioness being accommodated Edmonds Menagerie. Robert Armitage two infuriated beasts. They fought nearly in the front portion of the next lateral Sterndale talks about this incident in an hour, when the tiger succeeded in compartment of the building, in the back Natural History of the Mammalia of and closing his jaws over the nape of the lion’s portion of which a tiger was securely Ceylon (1929): “I believe there was once a neck, breaking his back and killing him confined; the latter showed no tendency case of a fair fight between a well matched instantly. to be excited. All being satisfactorily lion and tiger in a menagerie (Edmond’s, arranged the jemadar was allowed to Gerald L. Wood in his book Animals I think). The two, by the breaking of a absent himself for a short time, leaving Facts and Feats: A Guinness Record of the partition, got together, and could not be two garden keepers in with strict Animal Kingdom (1972) writes, “…Proske separated. The duel resulted in the victory injunctions that no change should be (1957) describes a fight to the death of the tiger, which killed his opponent.” made in his absence. Shortly afterwards between a circus lion and a tiger, which a great noise was heard in the direction In June 1902, at the Perth Zoological the latter won after crushing the lion’s of the carnivore house, and it was found Gardens, Australia, a fight broke out in a neck.” Zoo between a tiger called “Tom” and a that the grating door between the two Lioness called “Nancy”. The then director compartments in which the lioness and of the Zoo described the event as a single- Lion and Tiger Fights in India the tiger had been separated was raised, handed fight and though the lioness In the late 1800s, the then Gaekwad of so that they had come together. The Nancy was very powerful and active she erstwhile Baroda state believed that lions lioness was seen to be dying from the got no chance of holding her own. She were stronger than tigers and arranged injuries inflicted by the tiger…” had the worse of every bout with Tom a fight between them. Before the fight Gerald L. Wood tells about another and at the end the tiger carried her round began, those running the bet set the odds incident of a tiger and lion duel in the cage, displaying a degree of strength at Rs. 1 to Rs. 37000 that the tiger would another Indian zoo. On 19 November that was simply marvellous. With the win. It did and the Gaekwad not only 1945, visitors to the Zoological gardens greatest difficulty the tiger was removed lost thirty seven thousand rupees but his at Bangalore, witnessed a fight between and locked in another den, and the lioness belief in the strength of the lion. a tiger and a lioness which ended in the died not long afterwards. A fight between a lioness and death of the lioness. In May 1914, the Bronx Park Zoo, a tiger broke out at the Calcutta Zoological Earlier, lions were the national USA, witnessed a battle between an Gardens in 1891. R.B. Sanyal who was the animal of the country but now the tiger African lion named “Huerta” and a Royal superintendent of the Zoo at that time has replaced the lions to become our named “Rajah”. It happened describes this incident as follows: national animal. In historical times, lions that the lion accidently entered the den of “On the arrival of a pair of adult lions occupied a wide in our country the tiger when it found it unbarred and at the garden they were placed together; but many believe that the tigers which both of them got into a deadly fight in as they began to fight it was considered came from outside slowly exterminated front of hundreds of horrified visitors. dangerous to leave them in the same den. the lion population.

SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2014 36 FEATURE ARTICLE

A pair of lions was released on an experimental basis but the lion was soon found to be mauled to death by a tiger.

Naturalist Col. Kesri Singh was one of the firm believers of this notion. In his work One Man and Thousand Tigers (1959) he writes, “I do not myself think that the gradual disappearance of the Indian lion has been mainly due to human intervention. I believe the tiger to be responsible. Lions and tigers in the same area are direct competitors for exactly the same prey, and tigers are semi-solitary A tiger and a lion lock horns in this battle of supremacy. by habit, jealous of their hunting ranges (Picture credit: www.angelfi re.com) and notoriously intolerant of any sort of rivalry.” In the 1950s, Col. Singh also arranged three public fights between lions and tigers in a specially prepared arena. In all these fights the tigers emerged victorious. The then of erstwhile Gwalior state decided to reintroduce lions in his territory. He got three pairs of African lions imported for this purpose. They were kept in a especially built high enclosure in the Sheopur-Shivpuri range. According to Singh, “The surrounding forest abounded in tigers who seemed to be attracted by the roaring of the lions on the other side of the high wall. Twice while making one of my periodical inspections of the place I Who will win? found a tiger prowling nearby – probably anxious to challenge the unfamiliar voices.” where the two have come together on fair said that the wrong cat is called the king terms. The tiger is as strong and heavy as of the beasts. When comparing lions and A pair of lions was released on an the lion, is swifter, more ferocious, and tigers, Col. Singh sums up that the tigers experimental basis but the lion was soon more dangerous.” Thus begins an article as a general rule are more powerful, more found to be mauled to death by a tiger. titled Traits of The Indian Tiger which cunning, and better equipped for life in was published in the Auckland Star of 12 the jungle. Recent Big Cat Fight August 1899. So, if we take the physical aspects, Recently, in the year 2011 a tiger at Ankara Dr. Houghton who was once the characteristics and behaviour as well as Zoo of killed a lion with a single secretary of the in the 1870s documented records of lion and tiger strike of its paw. The tiger accidently also from his personal experience with fights we can safely say that the tiger is entered the lion’s enclosure though a lions and tigers judged the tigers to be the real king of the beasts. This may as gap and soon a terrible fight broke out stronger. When the ingrown nails of well answer the million dollar question: between the two. The tiger severed the these big cats was clipped five people Who will win the fight if they ever cross lion’s jugular vein in just a single strike of were needed to pin the lion whereas to each other’s path. its huge paw. pin down the tiger eight people were required which speaks volumes about the Mr Shakunt Pandey is a Kolkata-based freelance “Speaking of the tiger, he is easily the muscular strength of the tiger. science journalist. Address: ‘Lake Utsav’, P king of the feline family, says a Calcutta 331, Parnashree Pally, Flat No. 3A, 3rd Floor, hunter. He can whip a lion hands down, Bert Nelson, a renowned big cat Kolkata-700060; Email: shakuntpan33@gmail. as has been shown in every case reported trainer of his time, had once famously com/[email protected] 37 SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2014

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