About Raphael Heng Expertise Anything about Big Cats, especially Tigers. You can also ask me any questions or doubts you have about the organisation Save China's Tigers as i am a volunteer there, How the tigers affect the ecosystem in Africa etc. Questions about any feline re-wilding projects could be ask here, eg: Asiatic lion re-wilding. I can answer questions in both Chinese and English, questions on interspecies conflict regarding felines can also be answered.
Experience I am a volunteer of the Charitable Organisation, Save China's Tigers. The Organisation aims to save the South China Tiger via re-wilding training in Africa and releasing captive trained tigers back into the China's wild.
Organizations Save China's Tigers
Publications Wikipedia.
Education/Credentials Student, currently studying about Animal biology, specifically on felines.
1) Crater lion vs kaziranga park tiger
2) crater lion vs nagarhole park tiger
3) crater lion vs tiger from royal chitwan national park, nepal.
4) Bandhavgarh tiger vs transvaal lion.
thanks
Answer Hello there Sam,
I have answered Lion vs Tiger for about at least 100 times(not only here but from emails too).
I would just like to repeat what i've said. A Tiger fighting a Lion of similar or equal weights is said to be as close to a tiger vs tiger fight or lion vs lion fight. According to Big Cat Trainer Louis Roth, both animals can win. So it is 50/50, anyone could win. It will depend on the individual characteristics-Health, Age, aggression etc.
And i will also like to add that majority or almost all experts would actually favor the Tiger over the Lion if the Tiger has a size advantage of 70lbs or more. So like i said anyone could win.
But here i have an interesting account of a real Lion vs Tiger that happened right before my eyes that you might be interested in
There was once where i was sent to a Malaysian zoo(i will not specify the name) to be a trainee. And during the time i spent there, there was a transfer of a male African Lion(He wasn't purebred so he was what we call a integrade lion or trash lion) from another Malaysian zoo to the Malaysian zoo i was being posted too. Well, that lion was very aggresive as he was seperated from his mates in the other zoo. He was put in a cage adjacent to a cage of a resident male crossbred Bengal/Indochinese tiger. This particular male tiger was neutered a while ago because of his aggresion. In fact, many zoos in the world neuter their animals to keep the aggression level down. Lions are usually not neutered because the fur of their mane will drop after being neutered. As you know, neutering an animal makes it safer and less aggressive.
So the African Lion kept pacing around the bars that seperated the animal, in an attempt to challenge the tiger. The tiger, being a neutered animal, did not pay much attention to his new neighbour.
The zoo uses switches to open up bars of the enclosure during feeding time and cleaning time. There was once a particular day where a zookeeper accidentaly turned on a wrong switch, during feeding time, and the bars seperating the two animals were opened. The lion ran into the tiger's enclosure and they started snarling at each other before a fight finally broke out. All the zookeepers panicked and some of them rush to get the fire extinguisher. I was there all along to witness the entire fight. The male crossbred tiger weigh around 450lbs while the lion weighed 500lbs.
The lion was intially more dominant as he was the one who got the advantage of starting the fight, but soon after, the tiger got controlled of the fight and grabbed the lion's mane and pinned the lion down on the floor with its huge paws. It was obvious that the lion is in great pain as it didn't move.
The zookeepers got back with the fire extinguisher and seperated the animals back into their own enclosures after spraying them with carbon dioxide canister. Both animals were injured, but the lion got more injuries and had a large cut at the side of his face. Anyway, The fight took no more than 5 minutes.
