Grizzly vs Lion
Another topic Pablo and I disagree on are all of the captive animal cage-fights recorded by old newspapers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of those fights have multiple endings, which is impossible. Fact: most of those newspapers sought after sensationalism to sell papers. They printed exciting tales. Also, even those animal fights which actually happened could very well have been fixed, such as with drugs, to assure that the beast the owner wishes to win, would win. In some fights, one newspaper printed this one as the victor while another paper printed the other animal as the victor.
Therefore, I made the personal choice not to conclude any of those old tales as anything but unreliable stories.
I'm certain that among these tales are true valid accounts of fair fights conducted between lions and bears. We simply have no fool-proof method of separating fact from fiction. Also, concerning the legitimate fights, we usually have no real information concerning size, age, health, mental conditions, etc. of each animal involved.
There are no records in existence today where a lion has faced a bear of any species in the wild. There are however, kept records of lion and bear fights in the ancient Roman arena. This is far different from any money-making newspaper. A European historian - Michel Pastoureau - stated that in the Roman blood-games, the bear always defeated the lion. The only bear used in those games were grizzlies from Europe and North Africa.
We all know that in Russia, tigers hunt bears, including grizzlies. A tiger will hunt, stalk, and ambush a juvenile grizzly usually at least 100-pounds less in weight than himself. There have been a small hand-full of known events where a tiger ambushed and killed adult grizzly sows. But there exists no record accepted by science of a tiger ever ambushing a mature male grizzly. No event on record of a mature male grizzly ever being killed by a tiger under any circumstances.
But lions live and hunt in groups. For this reason, I believe that if lions and grizzlies were to occupy a single environment, the lion would be the dominant force. Nevertheless, a grizzly boar could and would displace a lone lion from a carcass.
Therefore, I made the personal choice not to conclude any of those old tales as anything but unreliable stories.
I'm certain that among these tales are true valid accounts of fair fights conducted between lions and bears. We simply have no fool-proof method of separating fact from fiction. Also, concerning the legitimate fights, we usually have no real information concerning size, age, health, mental conditions, etc. of each animal involved.
There are no records in existence today where a lion has faced a bear of any species in the wild. There are however, kept records of lion and bear fights in the ancient Roman arena. This is far different from any money-making newspaper. A European historian - Michel Pastoureau - stated that in the Roman blood-games, the bear always defeated the lion. The only bear used in those games were grizzlies from Europe and North Africa.
We all know that in Russia, tigers hunt bears, including grizzlies. A tiger will hunt, stalk, and ambush a juvenile grizzly usually at least 100-pounds less in weight than himself. There have been a small hand-full of known events where a tiger ambushed and killed adult grizzly sows. But there exists no record accepted by science of a tiger ever ambushing a mature male grizzly. No event on record of a mature male grizzly ever being killed by a tiger under any circumstances.
But lions live and hunt in groups. For this reason, I believe that if lions and grizzlies were to occupy a single environment, the lion would be the dominant force. Nevertheless, a grizzly boar could and would displace a lone lion from a carcass.
Comments
Post a Comment