SHAKUNT PANDEY RTICLE A EATURE F Physical Aspects Behaviour in Wild and Captivity Like humans, lions and tigers have a Lions are social animals 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 animal 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 Zoo 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 lion 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 big cat 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 paw 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?li ?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 Circus Clown (1926) cases of tigers having attacked and killed Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal, writes, “The tiger is a fighter. Place one lions.” 1892) full grown tiger and three lions in the The female of the Panthera tigris 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 circuses. describes such a battle where a tigress in Earlier Results of Lion and Renowned naturalist Charles a menagerie 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 1700s. 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 India 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 charge 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.