Historically, the comparative merits of the lion versus the tiger 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. The most common reported circumstance of their meeting is in captivity, either deliberately or accidentally.
Expert opinions
Favoring the tiger
- John Varty, owner of the Londolozi Reservein South Africa, said, "People always ask me which one is bigger? If a tiger and a lion had a fight, which one would win? Well, I've seen tigers crunch up a full-grown leopard tortoiselike it was nothing. And lions try, but they just don't get it right. If there's a fight, the tiger will win, every time."
- The animal rescue organisation Big Cat Rescue of Tampa, Florida answered, "While we would much prefer that people focus their thoughts on saving these magnificent animals than on who would win if a lion and tiger fight, the power of these two largest cats seems to raise this question in people's minds. While it would depend on the size, age, and aggressiveness of the specific animals involved, generally tigers have a significant advantage."
- The conservation charity Save China's Tigers stated "Recent research indicates that the tiger is indeed stronger than the lion in terms of physical strength. Lions hunt in prides, so it would be in a group and the tiger as a solitary creature so it would be on its own. A tiger is generally physically larger than a lion. Most experts would favor a Siberian and Bengal tiger over an African lion."
- John Smith Clarke, a British lion tamer, said, in a lecture on the fight between a tiger and a lion given to the Glasgow Zoological Society, while showing the actual fight on the screen, "in 100 cases out of 100 the tiger would always beat the lion. It was far more agile, it was not so clumsy in its movements, it was equally strong, it was equally armed, but it fought in a different way. The tiger very often fought rolling on its back and held the lion in its grip until it defeated him."
- The BBC (2016), in a 3-round study of agility, strength and intelligence, favored the tiger in the case of intelligence, due to the time spent for a particular challenge.
- William Mark Clark (1838) believed that the Bengal tiger was "more than a match" for theAsiatic lion.
- National Geographic Channel's documentary "The Last Lions of Asia" mentioned that a Bengal tiger had a weight advantage of 50 kilograms (110 lb) over an Asiatic lion, and could kill a lone lion in a fight.
Favoring the lion
- Trainer Bert Nelson, who witnessed a struggle between lions and tigers, said that a tiger would surrender 'sooner' than a lion.
- Clyde Beatty, the animal trainer and performer who owned several tigers, lions, hyenas, and other exotic animals, believed that in nine out of ten times, "a full-grown lion would whip a full-grown tiger." He mentioned that since he first began mixing the animals, 25 of his tigers (2 of them being Siberian tigers, the rest of them being Bengal tigers) were killed in the circus arena, but there was not a single lion casualty.
- Renowned naturalist and conservationist of India, Kailash Sankhala wrote in his book 'Tiger' that the tiger would be unable to get close to lion's vital joints because of his thick mane, and that the tiger would be vulnerable to the lion. He mentioned that once an Indian prince organized a fight in which the lion killed the tiger, and opined that "a tiger is no match for even single lion of equal strength."
- Dave Hoover, the animal trainer for Cole Bros. Circus, mentioned that "lions are better fighters than tigers," and that some of their circus tigers were killed by lions.
Neutral
- Carl Hagenbeck, a trainer from Hamburg, said that the lion and tiger were alike in "good temper and reliability."
- A keeper at the zoo in Jeonju, Korea, where a Siberian tigress was killed by a bigger male lion, said that it was 'rare' that a tiger and a lion would fight, and that when they did fight, the outcome depended on which beast got a head start, or was more aggressive. Moreover, he thought that neither beast was superior to the other.
- Apart from the test of intelligence, there were draws for the other tests. In the round of agility, the lioness, rather than a male lion, was as agile as the tiger. The male lions in the test had thick manes. The round of strength was not definitive as the knot of the lion's meat came undone as it pulled the meat from a group of men, whereas that of the tiger stayed as it pulled the meat. The men had a combined weight of 270 kg (600 pounds), which was more than the individual weights of the lion and tiger (BBC, 2016).
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, amongst others. Amosaic in the House of the Faun in Pompeiishows a fight between a lion and a 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, which ended up in fatalities, have also been recorded.
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SOURCE: Wikipedia
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