Who Is The Real King of The Jungle?
This is the ultimate battle between two apex predators. Who will reign supreme in the jungle? Is it the vicious lion or the ferocious tiger?
Both of these felines have crossed paths more times than one would expect. In the ancient times of the Romans, the Colosseum would often put on a show where African lions were pitted against Asian tigers, right in front of the Plebeians for their amusement. Moreover, towards the start of the 20th century, fights between these two animals were staged quite often. Not to mention, every now and then there will be accidental altercations at zoos that would quickly turn gruesome.
When it comes to lions, they are known to be imposing felines that show remarkable teamwork among their pride. Their loyalty is unmatched. These world-renowned predators are truly magnificent and thats for a good reason. The lion is known as the King of the Jungle and supports a majestic-looking mane for that regal look. The African lion is known for its strength and courage, all throughout history.
On the other hand, tigers are some of the biggest and most powerful felines out there. In a lot of cultures, a tiger represents courage, dignity, and strength. They are also easily recognizable because of their unique orange fur coat with white markings and thick, black stripes.
Size
When it comes to their physical appearance, the lion is the only animal that shows sexual dimorphism, meaning both genders look distinctively different from one another. Male lions tend to be larger in size than females. The body of a male lion is around 6 to 7 feet in length (1.8 – 2.1 meters), which also includes a 26 to 40 inch (0.6 – 1 meter) tail. They weigh somewhere between 250 to 450 pounds (120 to 200 kilograms). As adults, lions come in a different range of colors, such as gray, buff, or different brown shades. Both the lion and lioness are known to be strong and muscular with rounded heads and ears. The male lion has a dark brown, black, or rust mane all the way down its chest and neck. They also have dark tail tufts that hide the tail bone spurs in certain specimens.
When talking about tigers, they come in different sizes, colors, and markings based on their subspecies. In the forest of India, Bengal tigers are known to display the standard tiger appearance, such as the dark orange fur coat, white underbelly, and black stripes. On average, a Bengal tiger weighs approximately 490 pounds (220 kg). When it comes to the length of the Bengal tiger, it is around 6 to 7 feet (1.8 – 2.1 meters), including a 3 feet (1 meter) tail. The Siberian tigers, on the other hand, are considered to be the largest of all tigers. They tend to be lighter in color but support a thicker fur coat that protects them against the harsh, cold weather of the Russian taiga. Male Siberian tigers are massive in size and can grow up to 10.5 feet (3.3 meters) and weigh almost 660 pounds (300 kilograms).
Their Habitat and Range
Lions are generally found near savannah and grassland habitats, which are close to a water source, like a river. Also, they hunt in open areas as opposed to a densely packed forest. These felines won’t be found in any rainforest habitats within their range. When talking about African lions, a lot of their subspecies have been separated by massive, lion-less expanses. In history, lions are found all across Africa in the vast majority. However, currently, they are mostly located in Central and Southern Africa. Besides Africa, lions were spotted in Greece and all the way to India as well. Over the centuries, their population thinned out because of human interference. At the moment, a tiny population of Asiatic lions can be seen in Western India’s Gir Forest National Park.
Moving on to the tigers, they were mostly found on the east side of Turkey and all the way to the Tibetan plateau, the Sea of Okhotsk, and Manchuria. Currently, tigers occupy about 7% of that previous range. Over 50% of the remaining tigers reside in the forests of India, while smaller populations reside in locations such as Russia, China, and some parts of Southeast Asia. Moreover, tigers are known for living in different habitats like grasslands, lowland evergreen forests, tropical forests, mangrove swamps, and taiga. Generally, they look for places that are covered such as grasslands or forests, water resources, and places that have enough territory to support them when they look for their prey.
Their Diet and Food Intake
Lions are known as hypercarnivores, meaning that their diet is 70% made up of meat. Usually, African lions hunt large ungulates, which include African buffalos, zebras, giraffes, and wildebeests. They tend to stay away from preys that are very big or small but will attack domestic livestock. One lion is strong enough to take down an animal twice its size. Female lions hunt together as they stalk their prey from different directions so that they can capture any fleeing animals. These large predators kill their prey using two different ways. They either enclose its nostrils and mouth in order to suffocate it, or they strangle their prey.
Tigers hunt by ambushing their prey. They quietly sneak up on their prey until they get close enough to attack it. In order to have a successful hunt, great skill and precision is important. When it comes to the prey itself, tigers prefer large or medium-sized animals, particularly ungulates. Normally, they hunt animals that are over 200 pounds.
The Behavior of these Animals
Despite being vicious predators, lions are known for sleeping at least sixteen to twenty hours a day. They hunt during dusk or dawn, but can easily change their schedule in accordance with their prey. These felines communicate through vocalization, licking, rubbing heads, facial expressions, visual markings, and chemical markings. They are known for their loud and ferocious roar, but they also use other sounds like growling, snarling, meowing, and even purring.
Tigers, on the other hand, are known to be solitary creatures and there is rarely any interaction with other fellow tigers. They have their own territories, but will often travel outside those territories. Female tigers’ territories will overlap with the males, however, the territories of two male tigers won’t ever overlap. Also, tigers love to bathe in lakes, ponds, streams, or rivers, since this helps them to cool down in the hot weather.
So, here’s the big question:
Which of these two animals will win in a head-to-head fight?
The lion is known as the undisputed king of the jungle, hence it should be obvious who is more likely to win in a fight. However, that might not be the case at all.
Even if the lion is considered to be the king of the jungle, no other animal can really claim to be the king of a jungle except a tiger. The natural habitat of a tiger is, in fact, a jungle, as compared to the lion. Hence, it already has more power when it comes to being the real king of the jungle.
On the other hand, before coming to an ultimate conclusion of who will win in a fight, let’s look at their respective strengths and weaknesses.
As mentioned earlier, Siberian tigers are a lot more heavier than your regular tiger, hence, this is a fight that not even a ferocious lion would want. Therefore, we will be comparing a Bengal tiger with a lion instead. Both of their sizes are pretty much similar. However, the Bengal tiger can clearly hold its own as it is big enough to brawl and can put up a good fight. The combination of a Bengal tiger with a lion would be ideal since both felines are matched better.
So, in this battle, let us assume that both animals are male. The tiger is naturally constructed to stride and stalk across various terrains for miles at a time, which makes it ready for a fight any time of the day. A lion, on the other hand, does not have enough stamina due to sleeping for long hours, which means it will have to work a lot harder if they want a fair fight. Also, lions have small home territories, hence they don’t need to roam around as much to get food, which contributes to their low stamina. However, lions are better able to withstand the sun as compared to tigers. So if this brawl took place during midday, then they have an advantage.
Furthermore, a lion’s social nature might be its biggest disadvantage against a tiger. Based on the Lion Research Center in Minnesota, lions tend to fight together as a group against their enemy, while tigers are known for fighting their battles alone. This can greatly affect the instincts of these animals, where a single lion might look for help from a fellow lion in its group, while a tiger will be able to handle things by itself. Hence, in this case, a tiger is more likely to win.
Moreover, tigers are known for having a higher average bite force as compared to lions. Also, they are bigger in size and smarter than lions due to having larger brains. According to certain historical records, the fights that took place in ancient Rome would go in favor of the tiger. Similar results were seen in modern times as well when these animals were made to fight in captivity.
In the end, both lions and tigers have their own strengths and weaknesses. The outcome of a fight between the two depends on various factors such as their fighting style, their physiology, and their history.